Isaiah 26:16–27:6

¹⁶O Lord, they sought You ^ain distress;

They ¹could only whisper a prayer,

Your chastening was upon them.

^17aAs the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,

She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,

Thus were we before You, O Lord.

¹⁸We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,

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

We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,

Nor were ^binhabitants of the world ¹born.

¹⁹Your ^adead will live;

¹Their corpses will rise.

You who lie 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 ²runs its course.

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

To ^bpunish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

And the earth will ^creveal her bloodshed

And will no longer cover her slain.

Chapter 27

The Deliverance of Israel

¹In that day ^athe Lord will punish ^1bLeviathan the fleeing serpent,

With His fierce and great and mighty sword,

Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;

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

²In that day,

“A ^1avineyard of wine, sing of it!

³“I, the Lord, am its keeper;

^aI water it every moment.

So that no one will ¹damage it,

I ^bguard it night and day.

⁴“I have no wrath.

Should ¹someone give Me ^abriars and thorns in battle,

Then I would step on them, ^bI would burn them ²completely.

⁵“Or let him ^1arely on My protection,

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 sprout,

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