Isaiah 26
26
A Song of Praise to God
1At that time people will sing this song in Judah:
We have a strong city with strong walls and defenses.
But God gives us our salvation.#26:1 Or “We have a strong city that provides us with salvation. It has strong walls and defenses.”
2Open the gates for the good people to enter.
They are the God’s faithful followers.
3God, you give true peace
to people who depend on you,
to those who trust in you.
4So trust the Lord always,
because in the Lord YAH#26:4 LORD YAH Or “YAH YAHWEH,” a Hebrew name for God. you have a place of safety forever.
5But he will destroy the proud city
and punish those who live there.
He will throw that high city down to the ground.
It will fall into the dust.
6Then poor and humble people will walk on those ruins.
7Honesty is the path good people follow.
They follow the path that is straight and true.
And God, you make that way smooth
and easy to follow.
8But, Lord, we are waiting for your way of justice.
We want to honor you and your name.
9At night my soul longs to be with you,
and the spirit in me wants to be with you at the dawn of every new day.
When your way of justice comes to the world,
people will learn the right way of living.
10Evil people will not learn to do good,
even if you show them only kindness.
They will still do wrong, even if they live in a good world.
They never see the Lord’s greatness.
11Lord, your arm is raised to punish them,
but they don’t see it.
Show them how strong your love#26:11 strong … love The Hebrew word means strong feelings like love, hate, anger, zeal, or jealousy. is for your people.
Then those who are evil will be ashamed.
Yes, your fire will destroy your enemies.
12Lord, you have succeeded in doing everything we tried to do,
so give us peace.
God Will Give New Life to His People
13Lord, you are our God,
but in the past, we followed other lords.
We belonged to other masters,#26:13 we followed … masters This is a wordplay. It could also be translated, “Husbands other than you married us.” One word sounds like “Baal,” the other like a title for God.
but now we want people to remember only one name—yours.
14Those dead lords will not come to life.
Those ghosts will not rise from death.
You decided to destroy them,
and you destroyed everything that makes us think about them.
15Lord, you have helped the nation you love.
You made our nation grow
and brought honor to yourself.#26:15 Or “You gathered together the nation you love, the nation you drove into faraway lands.”
16Lord, people remember you
when they are in trouble.
So because of your punishment,
we called out to you.
17Lord, because of you we were in pain,
like a woman giving birth,
who struggles and cries out when it is time.
18But we struggled in pain for nothing.
We gave birth only to wind.
We did nothing to save the land.
No one was born to live in the world.
19 But the Lord says,
“Your people have died,
but they will live again.
The bodies of my people
will rise from death.
Dead people in the ground,
stand and be happy!
The dew covering you is like
the dew sparkling in the light of a new day.
It shows that a new time is coming,
when the earth will give birth to the dead who are in it.”
Judgment: Reward or Punishment
20My people, go into your rooms
and lock your doors.
Hide in there for a short time
until God’s anger is finished.
21Look! The Lord is coming out from his place#26:21 his place Probably the Temple in Jerusalem.
to judge the people of the world for the bad things they have done.
The earth will reveal the blood that has been spilled on it.
It will no longer hide the proof of those murders.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 26
26
God will Give his People Victory
1A day is coming when the people will sing this song in the land of Judah:
Our city is strong!
God himself defends its walls!
2Open the city gates
and let the faithful nation enter,
the nation whose people do what is right.
3You, LORD, give perfect peace
to those who keep their purpose firm
and put their trust in you.
4Trust in the LORD for ever;
he will always protect us.
5He has humbled those who were proud;
he destroyed the strong city they lived in,
and sent its walls crashing into the dust.
6Those who were oppressed walk over it now
and trample it under their feet.
7 LORD, you make the path smooth for good people;
the road they travel is level.
8We follow your will and put our hope in you;
you are all that we desire.
9At night I long for you with all my heart;
when you judge the earth and its people,
they will all learn what justice is.
10Even though you are kind to the wicked,
they never learn to do what is right.
Even here in a land of righteous people they still do wrong;
they refuse to recognize your greatness.
11 #
Heb 10.27
Your enemies do not know that you will punish them.
LORD, put them to shame and let them suffer;
let them suffer the punishment you have prepared.
Show them how much you love your people.
12You will give us prosperity, LORD;
everything that we achieve
is the result of what you do.#26.12 everything that… do; or you treat us according to what we do.
13 LORD our God, we have been ruled by others,
but you alone are our LORD.
14Now they are dead and will not live again;
their ghosts will not rise,
for you have punished them and destroyed them.
No one remembers them any more.
15 LORD, you have made our nation grow,
enlarging its territory on every side,
and this has brought you honour.
16You punished your people, LORD,
and in anguish they prayed to you.#26.16 Verse 16 in Hebrew is unclear.
17You, LORD, have made us cry out,
as a woman in labour cries out in pain.
18We were in pain and agony,
but we gave birth to nothing.
We have won no victory for our land;
we have accomplished nothing.#26.18 We have won… nothing; Hebrew unclear.
19 #
Dan 12.2
Those of our people who have died will live again!
Their bodies will come back to life.
All those sleeping in their graves
will wake up and sing for joy.
As the sparkling dew refreshes the earth,
so the LORD will revive those who have long been dead.
Judgement and Restoration
20Go into your houses, my people, and shut the door behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until God's anger is over. 21The LORD is coming from his heavenly dwelling place to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The murders that were secretly committed on the earth will be revealed, and the ground will no longer hide those who have been killed.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.