Isaiah 26

‘Our city is very strong.

The Lord has built these strong walls to protect us.

₂You must open its gates

so that the people can go in,

the people who do what God wants,

and the people who listen to Him.

₃These people know

that the Lord will help them.

Lord, You will give them rest and peace

because they believe in You.

₄You must always believe in the Lord,

because if you are with Him,

then you are with the Rock

that will stand strong forever.

₅The Lord made our enemies

fall down from their high walls.

He broke down their city

and its high walls to the ground.

₆The people who could not

help themselves and were poor

are now walking over that city.’

₇Lord, You make life easy

for those who are living in the right way.

The road of the righteous people

is not difficult to walk on.

₈Lord, we believe in You and we wait

for You to judge the people.

We want to remember your name and honour You.

₉I long for You with all my heart.

Even at night I look for You.

When You judge people and You punish them,

You teach them to live in the right way on earth.

₁₀But if You are good to bad people

who do wrong,

then they don't learn how to live in the right way.

They keep on doing things that are wrong

and they don't realise that the Lord is King.

₁₁You have lifted your hand

to punish them, but they don't see it.

Lord, show them that You love your people.

Let your enemies burn in the fire

when You get angry,

so that they will know

that they can not do anything.

₁₂Lord, You will rule over us

and give us peace because it was You

who did everything that we said we had done.

₁₃Lord, our God, other kings

ruled over us,

but we want to remember only your name.

₁₄The other kings have died

and they will not live again.

You have punished them and caused them to die

and now no one thinks about them.

₁₅Lord, You have made your people a big nation,

which has a lot of people.

You have made their land bigger.

You have shown that You are King.

₁₆Lord, You have punished your people

and when they suffered,

they came to You. They prayed

and asked You to help them.

₁₇We were like a woman

who is having a baby.

It was painful, and we suffered a lot.

We prayed and asked You to help us.

₁₈Our bodies bowed to the ground

like a woman who is having a baby,

but there was no baby that came out of us.

Nothing came out.

We did nothing to save our land

or to help the people of the world.

₁₉But the people who belong to You

and die will live again.

Yes, you who are dead now and lie

in graves in the dust of the earth,

you must wake up and be happy

because the earth will give back

the people who have died

and they will live again,

as the dew and rain from the sky

make plants grow.

₂₀My people, you must go into your rooms

and lock the doors behind you.

You must hide until the Lord

has punished the other people.

₂₁Because the Lord is coming from heaven

to punish the people on earth

for all the sins they have done.

The earth will show the blood

of all the people who have been killed.

The earth will not keep quiet about it.