Early morning in the Judean hills: a level path running straight across terraced slopes toward a walled town on a height, dew on the grass beside it.

The whole earth

Isaiah 26

Peace that holds when nothing else does: where does it come from?

21 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed upChapter 26
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

A Song of Salvation

Isaiah

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

We have a strong city;

salvation is established as its walls and ramparts.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah

Morning at a city gate: the heavy wooden doors swung wide and fastened back, the gateway’s stone benches empty, a level road running in, families walking toward it far off.

Open the gates so a righteous nation may enter—

one that remains faithful.

Isaiah

You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind,

because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

Isaiah

Isaiah

Trust in the LORD forever,

because GOD the LORD is the Rock eternal.

Isaiah

For He has humbled those who dwell on high;

He lays the lofty city low.

He brings it down to the ground;

He casts it into the dust.

Isaiah

Feet trample it down—

the feet of the oppressed,

the steps of the poor.

Two cities

Whiteboard

The proud city falls, and God’s city stands, with a table spread for all peoples.

Isaiah

The path of the righteous is level;

You clear a straight path for the upright.

Isaiah

Yes, we wait for You, O LORD;

we walk in the path of Your judgments.

Your name and renown

are the desire of our souls.

Isaiah

Night on a flat Jerusalem rooftop: one man seen from behind sitting on a mat, wrapped in his cloak, a clay oil lamp burning beside him, the city dark below, the first pale line of dawn far off.

My soul longs for You in the night;

indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn.

For when Your judgments come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.

Isaiah

Though grace is shown to the wicked man,

he does not learn righteousness.

In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly

and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.

Isaiah

O LORD, Your hand is upraised,

but they do not see it.

They will see Your zeal for Your people

and be put to shame.

The fire set for Your enemies

will consume them!

Isaiah

O LORD, You will establish peace for us.

For all that we have accomplished,

You have done for us.

Isaiah

O LORD our God, other lords besides You have ruled over us,

but Your name alone do we confess.

Question

Quick question

Verse 12 says something surprising about the good that God’s people do. Read it again before you answer.

Who has done all that God’s people have accomplished?

Isaiah

The dead will not live;

the departed spirits will not rise.

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them;

You have wiped out all memory of them.

Isaiah

You have enlarged the nation, O LORD;

You have enlarged the nation.

You have gained glory for Yourself;

You have extended all the borders of the land.

Isaiah

O LORD, they sought You in their distress;

when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.

Isaiah

As a woman with child about to give birth

writhes and cries out in pain,

so were we in Your presence, O LORD.

Isaiah

Isaiah

We were with child; we writhed in pain;

but we gave birth to wind.

We have given no salvation to the earth,

nor brought any life into the world.

Isaiah

First sunrise on a rocky hillside of rock-cut tombs, their doorways closed with stones, the dust and grass before them shining with heavy dew, a bird singing on a branch.

Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!

For your dew is like the dew of the morning,

and the earth will bring forth her dead.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Isaiah

Night in a narrow stone lane: a plain wooden house door shut tight, warm lamplight in the gap beneath it, the lane empty and still.

Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut your doors behind you.

Hide yourselves a little while

until the wrath has passed.

Isaiah

For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

The earth will reveal her bloodshed

and will no longer conceal her slain.

Pray

LORD, keep me in perfect peace as I trust in You, the Rock eternal. My soul longs for You in the night. Raise Your dead to sing, and hide me until the wrath has passed. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 26

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A verse to carry with you

You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

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