Isaiah 26–27

A Song of Praise

26In that day^b this song will be sung^c in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;^d

God makes salvation

its walls^e and ramparts.^f

²Open the gates^g

that the righteous^h nation may enter,

the nation that keeps faith.

³You will keep in perfect peaceⁱ

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust^j in you.

⁴Trust^k in the Lord forever,^l

for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock^m eternal.

⁵He humbles those who dwell on high,

he lays the lofty city low;

he levels it to the groundⁿ

and casts it down to the dust.^o

⁶Feet trample^p it down—

the feet of the oppressed,^q

the footsteps of the poor.^r

⁷The path of the righteous is level;^s

you, the Upright One,^t make the way of the righteous smooth.^u

⁸Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,^av

we wait^w for you;

your name^x and renown

are the desire of our hearts.

⁹My soul yearns for you in the night;^y

in the morning my spirit longs^z for you.

When your judgments^a come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.^b

¹⁰But when grace is shown to the wicked,^c

they do not learn righteousness;

even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil^d

and do not regard^e the majesty of the Lord.

¹¹Lord, your hand is lifted high,^f

but they do not see^g it.

Let them see your zeal^h for your people and be put to shame;ⁱ

let the fire^j reserved for your enemies consume them.

¹²Lord, you establish peace^k for us;

all that we have accomplished you have done^l for us.

¹³Lord our God, other lords^m besides you have ruled over us,

but your nameⁿ alone do we honor.^o

¹⁴They are now dead,^p they live no more;

their spirits^q do not rise.

You punished them and brought them to ruin;^r

you wiped out all memory of them.^s

¹⁵You have enlarged the nation, Lord;

you have enlarged the nation.^t

You have gained glory for yourself;

you have extended all the borders^u of the land.

¹⁶Lord, they came to you in their distress;^v

when you disciplined^w them,

they could barely whisper^x a prayer.^b

¹⁷As a pregnant woman about to give birth^y

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we in your presence, Lord.

¹⁸We were with child, we writhed in labor,

but we gave birth^z to wind.

We have not brought salvation^a to the earth,

and the people of the world have not come to life.^b

¹⁹But your dead^c will live, Lord;

their bodies will rise—

let those who dwell in the dust^d

wake up and shout for joy—

your dew^e is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.^f

²⁰Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors^g behind you;

hide^h yourselves for a little while

until his wrathⁱ has passed by.^j

²¹See, the Lord is coming^k out of his dwelling^l

to punish^m the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the bloodⁿ shed on it;

the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

Deliverance of Israel

27In that day,^o

the Lord will punish with his sword^p—

his fierce, great and powerful sword—

Leviathan^q the gliding serpent,^r

Leviathan the coiling serpent;

he will slay the monster^s of the sea.

²In that day^t—

“Sing^u about a fruitful vineyard:^v

³I, the Lord, watch over it;

I water^w it continually.

I guard^x it day and night

so that no one may harm^y it.

⁴I am not angry.

If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!

I would march against them in battle;

I would set them all on fire.^z

⁵Or else let them come to me for refuge;^a

let them make peace^b with me,

yes, let them make peace with me.”

⁶In days to come Jacob will take root,^c

Israel will bud and blossom^d

and fill all the world with fruit.^e

⁷Has the Lord struck her

as he struck^f down those who struck her?

Has she been killed

as those were killed who killed her?

⁸By warfare^a and exile^g you contend with her—

with his fierce blast he drives her out,

as on a day the east wind^h blows.

⁹By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atonedⁱ for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:^j

When he makes all the altar stones^k

to be like limestone crushed to pieces,

no Asherah poles^bl or incense altars^m

will be left standing.

¹⁰The fortified city stands desolate,ⁿ

an abandoned settlement, forsaken^o like the wilderness;

there the calves graze,^p

there they lie down;^q

they strip its branches bare.

¹¹When its twigs are dry, they are broken off^r

and women come and make fires^s with them.

For this is a people without understanding;^t

so their Maker has no compassion on them,

and their Creator^u shows them no favor.^v

¹²In that day the Lord will thresh^w from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,^x and you, Israel, will be gathered^y up one by one. ¹³And in that day^z a great trumpet^a will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled^b in Egypt^c will come and worship^d the Lord on the holy mountain^e in Jerusalem.