Isaiah26
New Living Translation
1In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: Our city is strong! We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation.
2Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter.
3You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
5He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust.
6The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it.
7But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them.
8Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
9In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right.
10Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty.
11O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let your fire consume your enemies.
12Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.
13O Lord our God, others have ruled us, but you alone are the one we worship.
14Those we served before are dead and gone. Their departed spirits will never return! You attacked them and destroyed them, and they are long forgotten.
15O Lord, you have made our nation great; yes, you have made us great. You have extended our borders, and we give you the glory!
16Lord, in distress we searched for you. We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.
17Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord.
18We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world.
19But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!
20Go home, my people, and lock your doors! Hide yourselves for a little while until the Lord’s anger has passed.
21Look! The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed. They will be brought out for all to see.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 26.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Divine mercies encourage to confidence in God. (1-4). His judgments. (5-11). His people exhorted to wait upon Him. (12-19). Deliverance promised. (20,21).
vv1-4
"That day," seems to mean when the New Testament Babylon shall be levelled with the ground. The unchangeable promise and covenant of the Lord are the walls of the church of God. The gates of this city shall be open. Let sinners then be encouraged to join to the Lord. Thou wilt keep him in peace; in perfect peace, inward peace, outward peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace at all times, in all events. Trust in the Lord for that peace, that portion, which will be for ever. Whatever we trust to the world for, it will last only for a moment; but those who trust in God shall not only find in him, but shall receive from him, strength that will carry them to that blessedness which is for ever. Let us then acknowledge him in all our ways, and rely on him in all trials.
vv5-11
The way of the just is evenness, a steady course of obedience and holy conversation. And it is their happiness that God makes their way plain and easy. It is our duty, and will be our comfort, to wait for God, to keep up holy desires toward him in the darkest and most discouraging times. Our troubles must never turn us from God; and in the darkest, longest night of affliction, with our souls must we desire him; and this we must wait and pray to him for. We make nothing of our religion, whatever our profession may be, if we do not make heart-work of it. Though we come ever so early, we shall find God ready to receive us. The intention of afflictions is to teach righteousness: blessed is the man whom the Lord thus teaches. But sinners walk contrary to him. They will go on in their evil ways, because they will not consider what a God he is whose laws they persist in despising. Scorners and the secure will shortly feel, what now they will not believe, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. They will not see the evil of sin; but they shall see. Oh that they would abandon their sins, and turn to the Lord, that he may have mercy upon them.
vv12-19
Every creature, every business, any way serviceable to our comfort, God makes to be so; he makes that work for us which seemed to make against us. They had been slaves of sin and Satan; but by the Divine grace they were taught to look to be set free from all former masters. The cause opposed to God and his kingdom will sink at last. See our need of afflictions. Before, prayer came drop by drop; now they pour it out, it comes now like water from a fountain. Afflictions bring us to secret prayer. Consider Christ as the Speaker addressing his church. His resurrection from the dead was an earnest of all the deliverance foretold. The power of his grace, like the dew or rain, which causes the herbs that seem dead to revive, would raise his church from the lowest state. But we may refer to the resurrection of the dead, especially of those united to Christ.
Key Words
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
זֶה: the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that
שִׁיר: a song; abstractly, singing
שִׁיר: to sing
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
יְהוּדָה: Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five Israelites; also of the tribe descended from the first, and of its territory
עֹז: strength in various applications (force, security, majesty, praise)
עִיר: a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)
שִׁית: to place (in a very wide application)
יְשׁוּעָה: something saved, i.e. (abstractly) deliverance; hence, aid, victory, prosperity
Cross References
Isaiah 26Salvation appointed as walls and bulwarks; Isa 60:18 similarly equates salvation with walls.
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JFB links the righteous as God's 'workmanship' (Hebrew structure) to believers created in Christ.
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The gate of the Lord into which the righteous nation shall enter.
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The righteous man's heart is established (stayed), trusting in the Lord.
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Jehovah as the 'Rock of ages' (everlasting strength) echoes Deuteronomy's Rock.
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God weighs the path of the just; 1Sa 2:3 notes actions are weighed by Him.
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Seeking/desiring God in the night matches David's meditation on his bed.
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Other lords ruling over Israel, reflecting the consequence of subjection to foreign kings.
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Inhabitants of the world learning righteousness through manifest divine judgments.
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God working all things for us: 'The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.'
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Poole links God working our works in us to deeds 'wrought in God'.
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The corporate resurrection and restoration of Israel's dead national body.
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The remembrance/memorial of God's name throughout all generations.
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The earth disclosing her blood, echoed by Abel's blood crying from the ground.
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Indignation lasting only 'for a little moment' mirrors God's anger being for a moment.
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