Isaiah 26:16–27:6

¹⁶O Yahweh, they visited You ^ain distress;

They ¹could only whisper a prayer;

Your chastening was upon them.

^17aAs the ¹woman with child draws near to the time to give birth,

She writhes and cries out in her pangs of labor,

Thus were we before You, O Yahweh.

¹⁸We were ¹with child, we writhed in labor;

We ^agave birth, as it seems, only to wind.

We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,

And the ^binhabitants of the world ²were not born.

¹⁹Your ^adead will live;

¹Their corpses will rise.

You who dwell in the dust, ^bawake and shout for joy,

For your dew is as the dew of the ²dawn,

And the earth will ³give birth to the ⁴departed spirits.

²⁰Come, my people, ^aenter into your rooms

And close your doors behind you;

Hide for a little ^1bwhile

Until ^cindignation passes by.

²¹For behold, Yahweh is about to ^acome out from His place

To ^bvisit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth;

And the earth will ^creveal her bloodshed

And will no longer cover those of hers who were killed.

CHAPTER 27

Yahweh Will Deliver Israel

¹In that day ^aYahweh will ¹punish ^2bLeviathan the fleeing serpent,

With His fierce and great and ³mighty sword,

Even ⁴Leviathan the twisted serpent;

And ^cHe will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

²In that day,

“A ^1avineyard of delight, sing of it!

³“I, Yahweh, am its keeper;

^aI water it every moment.

Lest anyone ¹damage it,

I ^bkeep it night and day.

⁴“I have no wrath.

Who would ever give Me ^abriars and thorns in the battle?

I would step on them, ^bI would burn them ¹completely.

⁵“Or let him ^1arely on My strong defense,

Let him make peace with Me,

Let him ^bmake peace with Me.”

⁶¹In the days to come Jacob ^awill take root,

Israel will ^bblossom and bud,

And they will fill the ²whole world with ^cproduce.