Isaiah 26

Judah’s Song of Praise

1 On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "{We have a strong city}; he sets up victory [like] walls and ramparts!
2 Open [the] gates {so that} [the] righteous nation who keeps faithfulness may enter!
3 You will protect a firm inclination [in] peace, [in] peace because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in Yahweh forever, for in Yah, Yahweh [you have] an everlasting rock.
5 For he has thrown down [the] inhabitants of [the] height, he lays low [the] lofty city. He lays it low to [the] ground; he throws her to [the] dust.
6 [The] foot tramples it, [the] feet of [the] poor, [the] steps of [the] needy."

Yahweh’s People Vindicated

7 [The] way of the righteous [is] a straight path; {you clear the level path of the righteous}.
8 Surely we wait for you [in] the path of your judgments, Yahweh, for your name and renown [are the] desire of [the] soul.
9 I desire you [with all] my soul in the night; also I seek you [with] my spirit within me, for when your judgments [are] {upon} the earth, [the] inhabitants of [the] world learn righteousness.
10 [Though the] wicked person is shown compassion, he does not learn righteousness; he acts unjustly in [the] land [of] uprightness, and he does not see the majesty of Yahweh.
11 Yahweh, [though] your hand reaches high, they do not see [it]. Let them see, and let them be ashamed of [the] zeal of people. Indeed, let the fire of your enemies consume them.
12 Yahweh, you will establish peace for us, for you have done even all of our works for us.
13 Yahweh, our God, lords besides you ruled over us, {but we praise your name alone}.
14 [The] dead do not live; dead spirits do not rise because you have punished and destroyed them, and you have destroyed all memory of them.
15 You have added to the nation, Yahweh. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have extended all [the] ends of [the] land.
16 Yahweh, in distress they have visited you; they poured out an {incantation}; your discipline [was] on them.
17 Like [a] pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes; she cries in her labor pains. So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.
18 We became pregnant, we writhed; we gave birth [to] wind. We cannot bring about deliverance [on the] earth, and no inhabitants of [the] world are born.
19 Your dead shall live; {their corpses} shall rise. Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of [the] dust, for your dew [is] {celestial dew}, and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.
20 Go, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide for {a very little} while, until [the] wrath has passed over.
21 For look! Yahweh [is] about to come out from his place to punish the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth against him, and the earth will disclose her blood and will no longer cover her slain.

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Footnotes 11

  • [a]. Or "and"
  • [b]. Literally "[the] level path of the righteous you make level"; the meaning of this phrase is uncertain
  • [c]. Literally "to"
  • [d]. Literally "alone in you we praise name you"
  • [e]. Literally "whispering"
  • [f]. Literally "my corpse;" some manuscripts propose an emendation to the suffix to change it to third person masculine plural ("their corpses"), which makes better sense
  • [g]. Literally "dew of light"
  • [h]. Or "you make the land of Rephaim fall"
  • [i]. The reading tradition (Qere) is singular
  • [j]. Literally "a little a little"
  • [k]. Hebrew "inhabitant"

Isaiah 26 Commentaries

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.