Isa 26 | EE | STEP | In that day, people will sing this song in the country called Judah. ‘We have a strong city. The LORD made walls inside and outside the city, to make us safe.’

Isaiah 26

Another song that praises God

1 In that day, people will sing this song in the country called Judah.

‘We have a strong city. The LORD made walls inside and outside the city, to make us safe.’ ^{▼▼26:1 In verse 1, the Hebrew word for ‘safe’ that Isaiah used was ‘jeshuah’. It is the Hebrew word that we translate ‘Jesus’!}

2 ‘Open the gates of the city, so that the righteous people can come in. The righteous people are those people who continue to believe the LORD.

3 You, LORD, will make safe the person whose mind is always thinking about you. You will keep him safe, because he believes you.

4 Always, always believe the LORD! Do that because the LORD, the LORD is a like a Rock. He will always be alive.

5 He brings down low the people who live in high-places, in a city on tall hills. He makes it low. He brings it down to the ground. He throws it into the dirt.

6 Feet will walk on it. The feet of the poor people and of the weak people will walk over it.’

7 The path that righteous people walk on is flat. You, LORD, make clear the way of righteous people.

8 Yes, LORD, we wait for you in the path that your rules point us to. In our minds, we want everybody to know your name. And we want everybody to know that you are famous.

9 My mind wants you in the night time and my spirit wants you in the morning. The people in the world will learn what ‘righteous’ means. That will happen when you are ruling in the country.

10 Bad people will not learn, if nobody punishes them. They will not learn what ‘righteous’ means. In a country where people are honest, bad people will continue to do bad things. They do not know that the LORD is very great.

11 LORD, you have lifted up your hand to hit them. But they do not see it. (But one day) they will see that you really love your people. Then, I pray that they will become ashamed. I pray that fire will burn up your enemies.

12 LORD, you will keep us safe. Really, all that we have done, you have done on our behalf.

13 LORD, our God, other lords than you have ruled over us. But we only praise your name.

14 Now the other lords are dead. They are not alive. Their spirits have gone and they will not rise up again. You punished them and you killed them. You have done it so that we do not remember them.

15 LORD, you have made the country larger. You really have made the country larger. You have received praise for yourself. You have made all the edges of the country bigger.

16 LORD, they came to you when they had trouble. They prayed quietly to you when you punished them.

17 LORD, we were with you, like a woman who would soon have a baby. We were like she is just before her baby’s birth. We could not keep still and we cried with the pain.

18 We were going to have a baby. We could not keep still and we cried with the pain. But only wind came out! We have not made the earth safe. And no new people have been born who can live on the earth.

19 But your dead people will live again. Their bodies will rise up from the grave. Awake! Shout, you people who live in the ground! Shout because you are very happy. Shout, because your dew is like the dew of the morning. The dead people will come out of the earth. It will be like when a woman has babies.

20 My people, go into your rooms and shut the doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a short time, until the LORD is not angry.

21 Look, the LORD is coming out of his house. He will punish the people on the earth because they have not obeyed him. The earth will show to him the blood that people poured out on it. It will not still hide the dead bodies of those that people have killed.