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Song of Praise for God’s Favor

25 O Lord, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will praise and give thanks to Your name;
For You have done miraculous things,
Plans formed long, long ago, [fulfilled] with perfect faithfulness.

For You have made a city into a heap [of trash],
A fortified city into a ruin;
A palace of [a]foreigners is no longer a city,
It will never be rebuilt.

Therefore a strong people will honor You;
Cities of terrible and violent nations will fear You.

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless,
A stronghold for the poor in his distress,
A shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of tyrants
Is like a rainstorm against a wall.

Like heat in a dry land, You will subdue the noise of foreigners [rejoicing over their enemies];
Like heat in the shadow of a cloud, the song of the tyrants is [b]silenced.


On this mountain [Zion] the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples [to welcome His reign on earth],
A banquet of aged wines—choice pieces [flavored] with marrow,
Of refined, aged wines.

And on this mountain He will destroy the covering that is [cast] over all peoples,
And the veil [of death] that is woven and spread over all the nations.

He will swallow up death [and abolish it] for all time.
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
And He will take away the disgrace of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.(A)

It will be said in that day,
“Indeed, this is our God for whom we have waited that He would save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
Let us shout for joy and rejoice in His salvation.”
10 
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain [Zion],
And Moab will be trampled down in his place
As straw is trampled down in the [filthy] water of a manure pile.
11 
And Moab will spread out his hands in the middle of the filth
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will humiliate his pride in spite of the [skillful] movements of his hands.
12 
The high fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

Song of Trust in God’s Protection

26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
He sets up salvation as walls and ramparts.

“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,
The one that [c]remains faithful and trustworthy.

“You will keep in [d]perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both [e]inclination and character],
Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].

“Trust [confidently] in the Lord forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner],
For the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

“For He has thrown down the [arrogant] ones who dwell on high, the lofty and inaccessible city;
He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He hurls it to the dust.

“The foot will trample it,
Even the feet of the suffering, and the steps of the helpless.”


The way of the righteous [those in right-standing with God—living in moral and spiritual integrity] is smooth and level;
O Upright One, make a level path for the just and righteous.

Indeed, in the path of Your judgments, O Lord,
We have waited expectantly for You;
Your name, even Your memory, is the desire and deep longing of our souls.

In the night my soul longs for You [O Lord],
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;
For [only] when Your judgments are experienced on the earth
Will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 
Though the wicked is shown compassion and favor,
He does not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness he deals unjustly,
And refuses to see the majesty of the Lord.

11 
Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O Lord, the wicked do not see it.
Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame;
Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.
12 
Lord, You will establish peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all that we have done.
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 [f]born.
19 
Your dead will live;
[g]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.(B)

20 
Come, my people, enter your chambers
And shut your doors behind you;
Hide for a little while
Until the [Lord’s] [h]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.

The Deliverance of Israel

27 In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent
With His fierce and great and mighty sword [rescuing Israel from her enemy],
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.


In that day [it will be said of the redeemed nation of Israel],
“A vineyard of [i]wine, sing in praise of it!

“I, the Lord, am its Keeper;
I water it every moment.
So that no one will harm it,
I guard it night and day.

“I have no wrath.
Should anyone give Me briars and thorns in battle,
I would step on them, I would set them all on fire.

“Or let him (Israel) cling to My strength and rely on My protection [My stronghold],
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.”

[j]In the generations to come Jacob will take root;
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the surface of the world with fruit.(C)


Like the striking [k]by Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?

You contended with them by exile, by driving them away [from Canaan];
He has expelled them with His fierce wind on the day of the east wind.

Therefore through this the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of Jacob (Israel) will be atoned for and forgiven;
And this will be [l]the full price [that God requires] for taking away his sin:
When Israel makes all the stones of the [pagan] altars like crushed chalk stones;
When the Asherim and the incense altars will not stand.
10 
For the fortified city is isolated,
A settlement deserted and abandoned like the desert;
There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and [m]feed on its branches.
11 
When its branches are dry, they are broken off;
The women come and [n]make a fire with them.
For they are not a people of understanding,
Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them,
And He who created them will not be gracious to them.

12 In that day the Lord will thresh [out His grain] from the flowing stream of the River [Euphrates] to the Brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. 13 It will come to pass in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost and perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.(D)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 25:2 Or strangers.
  2. Isaiah 25:5 Lit humbled.
  3. Isaiah 26:2 Lit keeps trustworthiness.
  4. Isaiah 26:3 Lit peace, peace, a Hebrew idiom of emphasis.
  5. Isaiah 26:3 The Hebrew word for inclination became a technical term in Jewish tradition, and the rabbis frequently referred to the “evil inclination” much in the same sense as the sin nature. They also recognized a “good inclination,” which the righteous choose to follow, and urged people to make their good inclination king over the evil inclination.
  6. Isaiah 26:18 Lit fallen.
  7. Isaiah 26:19 So with some ancient versions; MT reads My dead body.
  8. Isaiah 26:20 Lit curse.
  9. Isaiah 27:2 So DSS; MT reads beauty.
  10. Isaiah 27:6 Lit Those coming, Jacob.
  11. Isaiah 27:7 Or of him, referring to an enemy of Israel.
  12. Isaiah 27:9 Lit all the fruit.
  13. Isaiah 27:10 Lit consume.
  14. Isaiah 27:11 Lit set light to.

Praise to the Lord

25 Lord, you are my God;(A)
    I will exalt you and praise your name,(B)
for in perfect faithfulness(C)
    you have done wonderful things,(D)
    things planned(E) long ago.
You have made the city a heap of rubble,(F)
    the fortified(G) town a ruin,(H)
the foreigners’ stronghold(I) a city no more;
    it will never be rebuilt.(J)
Therefore strong peoples will honor you;(K)
    cities of ruthless(L) nations will revere you.
You have been a refuge(M) for the poor,(N)
    a refuge for the needy(O) in their distress,
a shelter from the storm(P)
    and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless(Q)
    is like a storm driving against a wall
    and like the heat of the desert.
You silence(R) the uproar of foreigners;(S)
    as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
    so the song of the ruthless(T) is stilled.

On this mountain(U) the Lord Almighty will prepare
    a feast(V) of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.(W)
On this mountain he will destroy
    the shroud(X) that enfolds all peoples,(Y)
the sheet that covers all nations;
    he will swallow up death(Z) forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears(AA)
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace(AB)
    from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.(AC)

In that day(AD) they will say,

“Surely this is our God;(AE)
    we trusted(AF) in him, and he saved(AG) us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice(AH) and be glad in his salvation.”(AI)

10 The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain;(AJ)
    but Moab(AK) will be trampled in their land
    as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11 They will stretch out their hands in it,
    as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down(AL) their pride(AM)
    despite the cleverness[a] of their hands.
12 He will bring down your high fortified walls(AN)
    and lay them low;(AO)
he will bring them down to the ground,
    to the very dust.

A Song of Praise

26 In that day(AP) this song will be sung(AQ) in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;(AR)
    God makes salvation
    its walls(AS) and ramparts.(AT)
Open the gates(AU)
    that the righteous(AV) nation may enter,
    the nation that keeps faith.
You will keep in perfect peace(AW)
    those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust(AX) in you.
Trust(AY) in the Lord forever,(AZ)
    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock(BA) eternal.
He humbles those who dwell on high,
    he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground(BB)
    and casts it down to the dust.(BC)
Feet trample(BD) it down—
    the feet of the oppressed,(BE)
    the footsteps of the poor.(BF)

The path of the righteous is level;(BG)
    you, the Upright One,(BH) make the way of the righteous smooth.(BI)
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,[b](BJ)
    we wait(BK) for you;
your name(BL) and renown
    are the desire of our hearts.
My soul yearns for you in the night;(BM)
    in the morning my spirit longs(BN) for you.
When your judgments(BO) come upon the earth,
    the people of the world learn righteousness.(BP)
10 But when grace is shown to the wicked,(BQ)
    they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil(BR)
    and do not regard(BS) the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, your hand is lifted high,(BT)
    but they do not see(BU) it.
Let them see your zeal(BV) for your people and be put to shame;(BW)
    let the fire(BX) reserved for your enemies consume them.

12 Lord, you establish peace(BY) for us;
    all that we have accomplished you have done(BZ) for us.
13 Lord our God, other lords(CA) besides you have ruled over us,
    but your name(CB) alone do we honor.(CC)
14 They are now dead,(CD) they live no more;
    their spirits(CE) do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;(CF)
    you wiped out all memory of them.(CG)
15 You have enlarged the nation, Lord;
    you have enlarged the nation.(CH)
You have gained glory for yourself;
    you have extended all the borders(CI) of the land.

16 Lord, they came to you in their distress;(CJ)
    when you disciplined(CK) them,
    they could barely whisper(CL) a prayer.[c]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth(CM)
    writhes and cries out in her pain,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We were with child, we writhed in labor,
    but we gave birth(CN) to wind.
We have not brought salvation(CO) to the earth,
    and the people of the world have not come to life.(CP)

19 But your dead(CQ) will live, Lord;
    their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust(CR)
    wake up and shout for joy—
your dew(CS) is like the dew of the morning;
    the earth will give birth to her dead.(CT)

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
    and shut the doors(CU) behind you;
hide(CV) yourselves for a little while
    until his wrath(CW) has passed by.(CX)
21 See, the Lord is coming(CY) out of his dwelling(CZ)
    to punish(DA) the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood(DB) shed on it;
    the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

Deliverance of Israel

27 In that day,(DC)

the Lord will punish with his sword(DD)
    his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan(DE) the gliding serpent,(DF)
    Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster(DG) of the sea.

In that day(DH)

“Sing(DI) about a fruitful vineyard:(DJ)
    I, the Lord, watch over it;
    I water(DK) it continually.
I guard(DL) it day and night
    so that no one may harm(DM) it.
    I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
    I would march against them in battle;
    I would set them all on fire.(DN)
Or else let them come to me for refuge;(DO)
    let them make peace(DP) with me,
    yes, let them make peace with me.”

In days to come Jacob will take root,(DQ)
    Israel will bud and blossom(DR)
    and fill all the world with fruit.(DS)

Has the Lord struck her
    as he struck(DT) down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
    as those were killed who killed her?
By warfare[d] and exile(DU) you contend with her—
    with his fierce blast he drives her out,
    as on a day the east wind(DV) blows.
By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned(DW) for,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:(DX)
When he makes all the altar stones(DY)
    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles[e](DZ) or incense altars(EA)
    will be left standing.
10 The fortified city stands desolate,(EB)
    an abandoned settlement, forsaken(EC) like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,(ED)
    there they lie down;(EE)
    they strip its branches bare.
11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off(EF)
    and women come and make fires(EG) with them.
For this is a people without understanding;(EH)
    so their Maker has no compassion on them,
    and their Creator(EI) shows them no favor.(EJ)

12 In that day the Lord will thresh(EK) from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,(EL) and you, Israel, will be gathered(EM) up one by one. 13 And in that day(EN) a great trumpet(EO) will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled(EP) in Egypt(EQ) will come and worship(ER) the Lord on the holy mountain(ES) in Jerusalem.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 25:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  2. Isaiah 26:8 Or judgments
  3. Isaiah 26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
  4. Isaiah 27:8 See Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  5. Isaiah 27:9 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah

25 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

26 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:

For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

11 Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

12 Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

13 O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

16 Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.

18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

27 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.

I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.

13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.