Isaiah 26

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 That day, this song wil be sung in Judah: 'We have a fortress city, the wal s and ramparts providesafety.	1 On that day they will sing this song in the land of Judah: "A strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.
2 Open the gates! Let the upright nation come in, the nation that keeps faith!	2 Open up the gates to let in a nation that is just, one that keeps faith.
3 This is the plan decreed: you wil guarantee peace, the peace entrusted to you.	3 A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you."
4 Trust in Yahweh for ever, for Yahweh is a rock for ever.	4 Trust in the LORD forever! For the LORD is an eternal Rock.
5 He has brought low the dwel ers on the heights, the lofty citadel; he lays it low, brings it to the ground,flings it down in the dust.	5 He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; He tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust.
6 It wil be trodden under foot, by the feet of the needy, the steps of the weak.'	6 It is trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.
7 The path of the Upright One is honesty; you smooth the honest way of the upright.	7 The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level.
8 Fol owing the path of your judgements, Yahweh, we set our hopes in you, your name, your memory areal our soul desires.	8 Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD, we look to you; Your name and your title are the desire of our souls.
9 At night my soul longs for you and my spirit within me seeks you out; for when your judgements appearon earth the inhabitants of the world learn what saving justice is.	9 My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world's inhabitants learn justice.
10 If pity is shown to the wicked without his learning what saving justice is, he wil act wrongly in the landof right conduct and not see the majesty of Yahweh.	10 The wicked man, spared, does not learn justice; in an upright land he acts perversely, and sees not the majesty of the LORD.
11 Yahweh, your hand is raised but they do not see! The antagonists of your people will look and growpale; with your fiery wrath you wil devour your enemies.	11 O LORD, your hand is uplifted, but they behold it not; Let them be shamed when they see your zeal for your people: let the fire prepared for your enemies consume them.
12 Yahweh, you wil grant us peace, having completed al our undertakings for us.	12 O LORD, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.
13 Yahweh our God, other lords than you have ruled us but, loyal to you alone, we invoke your name.	13 O LORD, our God, other lords than you have ruled us; it is from you only that we can call upon your name.
14 The dead wil not come back to life, the shadows wil not rise again, for you have punished them,annihilated them, wiping out their very memory.	14 Dead they are, they have no life, shades that cannot rise; For you have punished and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have made the nation larger, Yahweh, made the nation larger and won yourself glory, you haverol ed back the frontiers of the country.	15 You have increased the nation, O LORD, increased the nation to your own glory, and extended far all the borders of the land.
16 Yahweh, in distress they had recourse to you, they expended themselves in prayer, since yourpunishment was on them.	16 O LORD, oppressed by your punishment, we cried out in anguish under your chastising.
17 As a pregnant woman near her time of delivery writhes and cries out in her pangs, so have we been,Yahweh, in your eyes:	17 As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so were we in your presence, O LORD.
18 we have been pregnant, we have writhed, but we have given birth only to wind: we have not givensalvation to the earth, no inhabitants for the world have been brought to birth.	18 We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind; Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.
19 Your dead will come back to life, your corpses wil rise again. Wake up and sing, you dwel ers in thedust, for your dew wil be a radiant dew, but the earth will give birth to the shades.	19 But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who lie in the dust. For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth.
20 Go, my people, go to your private room, shut yourselves in. Hide yourselves a little while until theretribution has passed.	20 Go, my people, enter your chambers, and close your doors behind you; Hide yourselves for a brief moment, until the wrath is past.
21 For see, Yahweh emerges from his dwel ing to punish the inhabitants of earth for their guilt; and theearth will reveal the blood shed on it and no longer hide its slain.	21 See, the LORD goes forth from his place, to punish the wickedness of the earth's inhabitants; The earth will reveal the blood upon her, and no longer conceal her slain.