Isaiah 26

New Living Translation

Our city is strong!
    We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation.
² Open the gates to all who are righteous;
    allow the faithful to enter.
³ You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
⁴ Trust in the Lord always,
    for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
⁵ He humbles the proud
    and brings down the arrogant city.
    He brings it down to the dust.
⁶ The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot,
    and the needy walk all over it.

⁷ But 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.
⁸ Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
    our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
⁹ In the night I search for you;
    in the morning^[a] I earnestly seek you.
For only when you come to judge the earth
    will people learn what is right.
¹⁰ Your 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.
¹¹ O 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.

¹² Lord, you will grant us peace;
    all we have accomplished is really from you.
¹³ O Lord our God, others have ruled us,
    but you alone are the one we worship.
¹⁴ Those we served before are dead and gone.
    Their departed spirits will never return!
You attacked them and destroyed them,
    and they are long forgotten.
¹⁵ O Lord, you have made our nation great;
    yes, you have made us great.
You have extended our borders,
    and we give you the glory!

¹⁶ Lord, in distress we searched for you.
    We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.
¹⁷ Just as a pregnant woman
    writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.
¹⁸ We, too, writhe in agony,
    but nothing comes of our suffering.
We have not given salvation to the earth,
    nor brought life into the world.
¹⁹ But 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!