Isaiah 26:1-18 ▼

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

2 Open ye the gates, and the righteous nation which keepeth faithfulness shall enter in.

3 Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the mind stayed [on thee], for he confideth in thee.

4 Confide ye in Jehovah for ever; for in Jah, Jehovah, is the rock of ages.

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

6 The foot shall tread it down, -- the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the poor.

7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, the Upright, dost make the path of the just even.

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

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

10 If favour be shewn to the wicked, he doth not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness he dealeth unjustly, and beholdeth not the majesty of Jehovah.

11 Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, but they do not see: [yet] they shall see [thy] jealousy [for] the people, and be ashamed; yea, the fire which is for thine adversaries shall devour them.

12 Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works for us.

13 Jehovah our God, other lords than thee have had dominion over us; by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

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

15 Thou hast increased the nation, Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified. Thou hadst removed [it] far [unto] all the ends of the earth.

16 Jehovah, in trouble they sought thee; they poured out [their] whispered prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17 As a woman with child, that draweth near her delivery, is in travail, [and] crieth out in her pangs; so have we been before thee, Jehovah.

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