Isaiah 26 :: New International Version (NIV)

A Song of Praise

Isa 26:1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.

Isa 26:2

Isa 26:2Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.

Isa 26:3

Isa 26:3You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

Isa 26:4

Isa 26:4Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

Isa 26:5

Isa 26:5He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.

Isa 26:6

Isa 26:6Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.

Isa 26:7

Isa 26:7The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.

Isa 26:8

Isa 26:8Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,[fn] we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

Isa 26:9

Isa 26:9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Isa 26:10

Isa 26:10But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.

Isa 26:11

Isa 26:11LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

Isa 26:12

Isa 26:12LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

Isa 26:13

Isa 26:13LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.

Isa 26:14

Isa 26:14They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.

Isa 26:15

Isa 26:15You have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.

Isa 26:16

Isa 26:16LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.[fn]

Isa 26:17

Isa 26:17As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, LORD.

Isa 26:18

Isa 26:18We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.

Isa 26:19

Isa 26:19But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

Isa 26:20

Isa 26:20Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.

Isa 26:21

Isa 26:21See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(26:8)

Or judgments

(26:16)

The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.

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