Isaiah 26 (WEB)

Isaiah 26

¹ In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.

² Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith.

³ You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.

⁴ Trust in the LORD forever; for in the LORD, the LORD, is an everlasting Rock.

⁵ For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.

⁶ The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”

⁷ The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.

⁸ Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

⁹ With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁰ Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see the LORD’s majesty.

¹¹ LORD, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

¹² LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.

¹³ LORD our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but we will only acknowledge your name.

¹⁴ The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.

¹⁵ You have increased the nation, O LORD. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶ LORD, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

¹⁷ Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before you, LORD.

¹⁸ We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance on the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

¹⁹ Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.

²¹ For, behold, the LORD comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

Around Isaiah 26

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Isaiah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

It begins with a vision. In the year that King Uzziah died, the prophet sees the Lord on a throne, high and lifted up, and voices call, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies!” Then comes a call for someone to go, and the answer, “Here I am. Send me!”

What he is sent to say is hard and then tender. To Judah and Jerusalem, the first part of the book (chapters 1 to 39) warns of the consequences of injustice and false trust, and it promises a child who will rule on David’s throne. The second part (40 to 55) opens with “Comfort, comfort my people” and speaks to a people in exile, and it tells of a servant who suffers for others. The last part (56 to 66) looks ahead to a renewed people and to a new heavens and a new earth.

Background

Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied in Jerusalem in the second half of the eighth century before Christ, while the Assyrian threat hung over the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later prophets in his tradition, speaking during and after the exile. Others hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book. Either way, the book reads as one long conversation between God and a people who swing between fear and false confidence.

How Christians read it

No prophet is quoted more in the New Testament. Readers have long weighed who the suffering servant is. Christians read the servant of chapter 53 as fulfilled in the death of Jesus, and Jewish interpretation has most often understood the servant as Israel. Passages such as 7:14 and 9:6 are read by Christians as pointing to Christ, while also having a meaning in Isaiah’s own day. These are old readings held by people who love the same pages.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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