Isaiah 26:16–27:6

¹⁶O Lord, in distress they sought you;

they poured out a prayerⁱ

when your chastening was on them.^*

¹⁷Like a woman with child

about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we because of you, O Lord;^*

¹⁸we were with child; we writhed,

but we gave birth only to wind.

We have won no victories on earth,

and no one is born to inhabit the world.^*

¹⁹Your dead shall live; their corpses^j shall rise.

Those who dwell in the dust will awake and shout for joy!^k

For your dew is a radiant dew,

and the earth will give birth to those long dead.^l*

²⁰Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until the wrath is past.^*

²¹For the Lord comes out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

the earth will disclose the blood shed on it

and will no longer cover its slain.^*

Israel’s Redemption

²⁷On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.^*

²On that day:

A pleasant vineyard—sing about it!^*

³I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

I guard it night and day

so that no one can harm it;^*

⁴I have no wrath.

If it gives me thorns and briers,

I will march to battle against it.

I will burn it up.^*

⁵Or else let it cling to me for protection;

let it make peace with me;

let it make peace with me.^*

⁶In days to come^m Jacob shall take root;

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.^*