Isaiah 26–27

¹In that day sung is this song in the land of Judah: ‘We have a strong city, Salvation He doth make walls and bulwark. ²Open ye the gates, that enter may a righteous nation, Preserving stedfastness. ³An imagination supported Thou fortifiest peace—peace! For in Thee it is confident. ⁴Trust ye in Jehovah for ever, For in Jah Jehovah is a rock of ages,

⁵For He bowed down the dwellers on high, A city set on high He maketh low, He maketh it low unto the earth, He causeth it to come unto the dust, ⁶Tread it down doth a foot, Feet of the poor—steps of the weak. ⁷The path for the righteous is uprightness, O upright One, The path of the righteous Thou dost ponder. ⁸Also, in the path of Thy judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for Thee, To Thy name and to Thy remembrance Is the desire of the soul. ⁹With my soul I desired Thee in the night, Also, with my spirit within me I seek Thee earnestly, For when Thy judgments are on the earth, The inhabitants of the world have learned righteousness. ¹⁰The wicked findeth favour, He hath not learned righteousness, In a land of straightforwardness he dealeth perversely, And seeth not the excellency of Jehovah. ¹¹O Jehovah, high is Thy hand—they see not, They see the zeal of the people, and are ashamed, Also, the fire—Thine adversaries, consumeth them.

¹²O Jehovah, Thou appointest peace to us, For, all our works also Thou hast wrought for us. ¹³O Jehovah our God, lords have ruled us besides Thee, Only, by Thee we make mention of Thy name. ¹⁴Dead—they live not, Rephaim, they rise not, Therefore Thou hast inspected and dost destroy them, Yea, thou destroyest all their memory. ¹⁵Thou hast added to the nation, O Jehovah, Thou hast added to the nation, Thou hast been honoured, Thou hast put far off all the ends of earth. ¹⁶O Jehovah, in distress they missed Thee, They have poured out a whisper, Thy chastisement is on them. ¹⁷When a pregnant woman cometh near to the birth, She is pained—she crieth in her pangs, So we have been from Thy face, O Jehovah. ¹⁸We have conceived, we have been pained. We have brought forth as it were wind, Salvation we do not work in the earth, Nor do the inhabitants of the world fall. ¹⁹‘Thy dead live—My dead body they rise. Awake and sing, ye dwellers in the dust, For the dew of herbs is thy dew, And the land of Rephaim thou causest to fall.

²⁰Come, My people, enter into thy inner chambers, And shut thy doors behind thee, Hide thyself shortly a moment till the indignation pass over. ²¹For, lo, Jehovah is coming out of His place, To charge the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him, And revealed hath the earth her blood, Nor doth she cover any more her slain!’

Chapter 27

¹In that day lay a charge doth Jehovah, With his sword—the sharp, and the great, and the strong, On leviathan—a fleeing serpent, And on leviathan—a crooked serpent, And He hath slain the dragon that is in the sea. ²In that day, ‘A desirable vineyard,’ respond ye to her, ³I, Jehovah, am its keeper, every moment I water it, Lest any lay a charge against it, Night and day I keep it! ⁴Fury is not in Me; Who giveth Me a brier—a thorn in battle? I step into it, I burn it at once. ⁵Or—he doth take hold on My strength, He doth make peace with Me, Peace he doth make with Me. ⁶Those coming in He causeth to take root, Jacob doth blossom, and flourished hath Israel, And they have filled the face of the world with increase.

⁷As the smiting of his smiter hath He smitten him? As the slaying of his slain doth He slay? ⁸In measure, in sending it forth, thou strivest with it, He hath taken away by His sharp wind, In the day of an east wind, ⁹Therefore by this is the iniquity of Jacob covered, And this is all the fruit—To take away his sin, in His setting all the stones of an altar, As chalkstones beaten in pieces, They rise not—shrines and images. ¹⁰For the fenced city is alone, A habitation cast out and forsaken as a wilderness, There doth the calf delight, And there it lieth down, And hath consumed its branches. ¹¹In the withering of its branch it is broken off, Women are coming in setting it on fire, For it is not a people of understanding, Therefore pity it not doth its Maker, And its Former doth not favour it. ¹²And it hath come to pass, in that day, Beat out doth Jehovah from the branch of the river, Unto the stream of Egypt, And ye are gathered one by one, O sons of Israel. ¹³And it hath come to pass, in that day, It is blown with a great trumpet, And come in have those perishing in the land of Asshur, And those cast out in the land of Egypt, And have bowed themselves to Jehovah, In the holy mount—in Jerusalem!

Chapter 28