UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

ISA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52 C53 C54 C55 C56 C57 C58 C59 C60 C61 C62 C63 C64 C65 C66

UST ISA Chapter 26

◄ ISA 26 ► ║ ═ ©

26 At that time, people in the land of Judah will sing this song:

“We have a strong city!

God protects us as though he had built walls and fortifications around us to save us.

2 Open the gates so that the people who do what is right may enter.

Those people remain faithful to Yahweh.

3 Yahweh, you keep those who firmly commit themselves to you

completely secure, because they trust in you.

4 So always trust Yahweh,

because Yahweh will always protect us

as if he were a huge rock we could climb onto and be safe.

5 He has humbled those who lived in a city

that they thought was safe because it was on a high place.

He has destroyed it so completely that all that remains

are stones lying on the dust of the ground.

6 Poor and needy people walk over its ruins.”

7 Yahweh, you are righteous,

and when people want to do what is right,

you make it easier for them to do that.

8 Yes, Yahweh, we want to do what you have decided is right,

and we are waiting for you to help us do that.

We earnestly want people to know

what you are like and the great things you have done.

9 During the night I long for you,

and the first thing I want to do in the morning

is to meet with you.

When you judge people on the earth,

those who live in the world learn to do what is right.

10 Even if rulers show mercy to wicked people

and do not punish them right away,

they do not learn to do what is right.

Even in a land where people do what is right, they do wrong things,

and they do not recognize how great Yahweh is.

11 Yahweh, you are about to use your power to punish them,

but they do not recognize this.

Show them how eager you are to help your people,

and let that shame them.

Give them the punishment you have prepared for your enemies,

and may that destroy them.

12 Yahweh, you have really made happen

everything it seems that we have accomplished.

So please make good things happen for us,

13 Yahweh our God, other masters have governed us,

but you are the only one whose authority we acknowledge.

14 Those rulers are dead, and they will not live again.

They are spirits of dead people who will not come back to life.

That is because you punished them and destroyed them.

Now no one remembers them anymore.

15 Yahweh, you have greatly increased the population of our nation,

and people honor you for doing that.

You have also enlarged our territory.

16 Yahweh, when your people were suffering,

they called out to you to help them.

When you were punishing them to correct them,

they whispered prayers to you.

17 A pregnant woman writhes in pain and cries out

when she is about to give birth.

In the same way, we suffered because of your discipline, Yahweh.

18 We suffered as if we were having birth pangs,

but it was as if we did not give birth to anything.

We could not do anything to make our land safe,

and no new people came into the world.

19 But Yahweh, those of your people who have died will live again;

their bodies will become alive!

Those who now lie in the ground should come back to life and sing joyfully!

You are like dew, Yahweh, which makes plants live even when there is not rain,

but you are like spiritual dew that makes dead people live again.

When the spirits of dead people come back to life,

it will be as if the earth is giving birth to people.

20 So now, my people, go into your rooms

and shut your doors behind you.

Hide there for just a little while

until Yahweh is no longer angry.

21 Listen! Yahweh is about to come from heaven

to punish the people on earth for the evil things they have done.

It will become evident whom others have murdered,

even if they buried their bodies or their blood soaked into the ground.