Isaiah 26:7–15

⁷The path of life is level for those who are right with God;

Lord, you make the way of life smooth for those people.

⁸But, Lord, we are waiting

for your way of justice.

Our souls want to remember

you and your name.

⁹My soul wants to be with you at night,

and my spirit wants to be with you at the dawn of every day.

When your way of justice comes to the land,

people of the world will learn the right way of living.

¹⁰Evil people will not learn to do good

even if you show them kindness.

They will continue doing evil, even if they live in a good world;

they never see the Lord’s greatness.

¹¹Lord, you are ready to punish those people,

but they do not see that.

Show them your strong love for your people.

Then those who are evil will be ashamed.

Burn them in the fire

you have prepared for your enemies.

¹²Lord, all our success is because of what you have done,

so give us peace.

¹³Lord, our God, other masters besides you have ruled us,

but we honor only you.

¹⁴Those masters are now dead;

their ghosts will not rise from death.

You punished and destroyed them

and erased any memory of them.

¹⁵Lord, you multiplied the number of your people;

you multiplied them and brought honor to yourself.

You made the borders of the land wide.