Isaiah 26

¹In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. ²Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.³Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.⁴Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAHis everlasting strength:

⁵For he bringeth 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. ⁶The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. ⁷The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. ⁸Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. ⁹With 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 will learn righteousness. ¹⁰Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. ¹¹Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

¹²Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. ¹³O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. ¹⁴They 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. ¹⁵Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. ¹⁶Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. ¹⁷Like 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 in thy sight, O Lord. ¹⁸We 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. ¹⁹Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

²⁰Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. ²¹For, behold, the Lord cometh 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.