Isaiah 26:13-21 ▼

13 O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled over us; But through You alone we confess Your name.

14 The [wicked] dead will not live [again], the spirits of the dead will not rise and return; Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And You have wiped out every memory of them [every trace of them].

15 You have increased the nation, O LORD; You have increased the nation, You are glorified; You have extended all the borders of the land.

16 O LORD, they sought You in distress; They managed only a prayerful whisper When Your discipline was upon them.

17 As a woman with child approaches the time to give birth, She is in pain and struggles and cries out in her labor, So we were before You, O LORD.

18 We have been with child, we have twisted and struggled in labor; We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. We could not accomplish salvation for the earth, Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

19 Your dead will live; Their dead bodies will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy! For your dew is a dew of [celestial] light [heavenly, supernatural], And the earth will give birth to the spirits of the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter your chambers And shut your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until the [LORD’S] wrath is past.

21 Listen carefully, the LORD is about to come out of His [heavenly] place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing]; The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon her And will no longer cover her slain.