Isaiah 26

¹ In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will he appoint for walls and bulwarks.

² Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter in.

³ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

⁴ Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is an everlasting rock.

⁵ For he hath brought down them that dwell on high, the lofty city: he layeth it low, he layeth it low even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

⁶ The foot shall tread it down; even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

⁷ The way of the just is uprightness: thou that art up right dost direct the path of the just.

⁸ Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; to thy name and to thy memorial is the desire of our soul.

⁹ With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁰ Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

¹¹ LORD, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not: but they shall see thy zeal for the people, and be ashamed; yea, fire shall devour thine adversaries.

¹² LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou hast also wrought all our works for us.

¹³ O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

¹⁴ They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

¹⁵ Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified: thou hast enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶ LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

¹⁷ Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been before thee, O LORD.

¹⁸ We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

¹⁹ Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

²¹ For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.