Isaiah 26:16–27:6

¹⁶O Lord, in distress they sought thee,

they poured out a prayer

when thy chastening was upon them.

¹⁷Like a woman with child,

who writhes and cries out in her pangs,

when she is near her time,

so were we because of thee, O Lord;

¹⁸we were with child, we writhed,

we have as it were brought forth wind.

We have wrought no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

¹⁹Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise.

O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For thy dew is a dew of light,

and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it fall.

²⁰Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until the wrath is past.

²¹For behold, the Lord is coming forth out of his place

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her,

and will no more cover her slain.

Chapter 27

¹In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

²In that day:

“A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!

³I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest any one harm it,

I guard it night and day;

⁴I have no wrath.

Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would set out against them,

I would burn them up together.

⁵Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

⁶In days to come Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,

and fill the whole world with fruit.