26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.

26:2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.

26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

26:5 He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.

26:6 Feet trample it down--the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.

26:7 The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.

26:8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

26:9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

26:10 Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the LORD.

26:11 O LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

26:12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

26:13 O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.

26:14 They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.

26:15 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.

26:16 LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.

26:17 As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD.

26:18 We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world.

26:19 But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

26:20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.

26:21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.