Isaiah 26
Isaiah 26 is the song that answers the deliverance promised in chapter 25 - a single voice lifted up in the land of Judah over a city that has been saved. But notice what the song says the city is made of: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks (v. 1). Its defenses are not stone and mortar; they are God's own rescue. No army builds a wall like this, and no army can breach it. And its gates open by a standard the world does not use: not to the strong or the wealthy or the well-connected, but to the righteous nation which keepeth the truth (v. 2). This is a city whose strength is God and whose door is opened by faithfulness.3
At the song's heart stands a promise people have leaned their whole lives on: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (v. 3). The peace is not a fragile calm that depends on circumstances staying pleasant; it is a deep, kept wholeness given to the mind that stays fixed on God. And the very next line names where such peace comes from: Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength (v. 4). Here is the everlasting Rock, the strength that does not run out and does not fail - the only thing solid enough to stay a mind on.
The song then descends into the harder country of longing and failure before it rises to its great height. The prophet's soul reaches for God through the dark: With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early (v. 9). He confesses, with painful honesty, that all the straining of God's people has produced nothing that lasts - we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth (v. 18). And then, out of that emptiness, comes the line that makes this chapter unforgettable: Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust (v. 19). What no human effort could bring forth, God will - even life out of the grave.2
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Isaiah 26:1-6Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace
1In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. 2Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. 3Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: 5For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. 6The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
The song opens by naming what makes the city safe, and the answer overturns every ordinary idea of security: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks (v. 1). An ancient city's life depended on its walls - the thicker the stone, the safer the people. But this city's defense is not masonry at all. Salvation itself - God's own act of rescue - stands where the walls should be. The strength of the place is not in what its people built but in what God does for them. And the gate is opened by an unexpected key: Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in (v. 2). Not the powerful, not the rich, not the impressive - the righteous, those who keep the truth. This is a city secured by God and entered by faithfulness, and it quietly rebukes the way the world counts both safety and worth. The walls a person trusts say everything about where their hope really rests.3
At the song's heart is a promise generations have clung to: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (v. 3). Every word repays attention. The peace is kept - guarded, held in place by God, not summoned up by the person's own effort. The Hebrew behind perfect peace is literally peace, peace, the word said twice to press it to its fullest - not a thin calm but a deep, settled wholeness. And it belongs to a particular kind of mind: one that is stayed on God. The word means to lean, to prop, to rest one's weight upon something solid, the way a tired traveler leans on a staff. The peace is not promised to the mind that has no troubles; it is promised to the mind that, in the middle of trouble, keeps leaning on God rather than on its own fears. And the reason is given last: because he trusteth in thee. Trust is the cause; perfect peace is the fruit. A mind divided between God and a dozen anxious calculations cannot be kept this way. The peace comes to the mind that has decided where to lean.
The reason such trust is safe is given at once: Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength (v. 4). The call is to trust for ever - not for a season, not until a better option appears, but permanently - and the ground of it is a strength that is everlasting, that never runs down and never gives way. Then the song shows the other side of that strength: For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust (v. 5). The repetition hammers the point - low… low… to the ground… to the dust. The proud city, trusting in its own height, is brought all the way down. And the ones who walk over its ruins are not a conquering army but the very people it once looked down on: The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy (v. 6). It is a complete reversal. The everlasting strength that holds up the trusting and humble is the same strength that levels the proud. Where a person stands in the end depends entirely on what they leaned their weight upon.
Isaiah 26:7-15With My Soul Have I Desired Thee in the Night
7The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. 8Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. 9With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 10Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. 11LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
The song turns now to the character of God's dealings, and finds them straight and fair: The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just (v. 7). There is a quiet comfort here. God does not deal with people arbitrarily; He weighs the path of the just, measuring it with perfect evenness. The One who is Himself most upright can be trusted to judge uprightly. And the response of the faithful is patient waiting: in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee (v. 8). Notice what they desire - not merely rescue, not merely an end to their troubles, but God Himself: thy name and the remembrance of thee. The deepest longing of the faithful soul is not for God's gifts but for God. To wait in the way of thy judgments is to keep walking the upright path even while the answer is delayed, trusting that the One who weighs all paths will not forget the just.
Then comes one of the most tender confessions of longing in all the prophets: With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early (v. 9). The desire reaches through the darkness - in the night, the long wakeful hours when fear presses and sleep will not come - and it rises again with the dawn, seeking early. This is no shallow or occasional wish; it is a hunger that fills the night and the morning, the soul and the spirit, the whole inner person reaching for God. And the prophet gives a reason the longing matters beyond himself: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. God's acts of judgment are not only punishment; they are instruction, teaching a watching world what righteousness is. Yet verse 10 adds a sober note: Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. Some hearts will not be taught even by kindness; shown grace, they still deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. The lesson is offered to all, but only the willing soul - the one that desires God in the night - truly receives it.
12LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 13O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. 14They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. 15Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
The song now lifts into confident prayer, and every line gives God the credit: LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us (v. 12). The peace promised in verse 3 is here asked for plainly - and the ground of the asking is striking. They do not point to their own achievements; they confess that even the good they have done, God wrought… in us. Every work that counted was His work in them. So the peace they ask for is of a piece with everything else: a gift from the God who has been at work in them all along. Then comes a clean break with the past: O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name (v. 13). Other masters - foreign powers, false gods, every rival claim on the heart - have ruled them before. Now they renounce them all and bind themselves to one name only. And those old lords have no future: They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise (v. 14). The powers that once held them are finished, their very memory perishing. But God's own people are the opposite story - Thou hast increased the nation… thou art glorified (v. 15). The lords of the old life pass into oblivion; the people God claims are increased and carried to the ends of the earth. The contrast in verse 14 - the dead who shall not rise - sets up, by sharpest opposition, the promise the song is climbing toward.
Isaiah 26:16-21Thy Dead Men Shall Live
16LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. 17Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. 18We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Before the song's great promise, it makes an honest confession of failure, and the image it reaches for is unforgettable: Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind (vv. 17-18). It is the picture of a labor that produces nothing - all the agony of childbirth, all the straining and the cries, and at the end no child, only wind. The people had travailed; they had hoped their effort would bring forth deliverance for the land, life for the nation. And they had to admit the result: we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Nothing they could do had saved anyone or toppled the oppressor. This is one of the most truthful moments in the chapter. Human striving, even at its most painful and sincere, cannot bring forth the life it longs for. The womb of our own effort delivers only wind. And it is precisely here, at the bottom of that honesty - where every human labor has failed - that the song is about to announce what only God can do.
Out of that confession of helplessness rises the line the whole song has been climbing toward: Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead (v. 19). What human labor could not bring forth - not even one lasting deliverance - God brings forth in fullness: life out of death itself. The contrast with verse 14 is total. There, the old oppressing lords were dead… they shall not rise. Here, God's own dead men shall live. And the command shouted over the grave is astonishing: Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust. Not merely awake - sing. The dust is not given a whisper but a song. Then the gentlest of images for the mightiest of acts: thy dew is as the dew of herbs. As the morning dew settles silently on a parched field and the green rises as if the ground itself were giving up life, so God's life-giving touch falls on the dead and the earth shall cast out the dead. The grave, which seems to swallow everything forever, is here pictured giving its dead back. What the people could not do for themselves in all their painful striving, God simply does - He raises the dead and turns the silence of the dust into singing.
20Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
The song closes with a tender summons to shelter: Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast (v. 20). The voice is a parent's - my people - calling the children inside out of a coming storm. There is an hour, the song says, when God's judgment will sweep the earth, and His own are told to take refuge and wait it out. Two things steady the heart in that call. First, the storm is a little moment; however fierce, it will pass. Second, there is a place to hide - God does not send His people out into the indignation but draws them in behind shut doors until it is over. The reason follows: For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain (v. 21). The day comes when no hidden wrong stays hidden; the earth itself will give up the blood it had covered, every injustice brought at last into the light. This is the other face of the resurrection just promised. The same God who calls the dead to awake and sing also comes to set every wrong right - and over both, His people are kept safe behind the door, hidden in Him until the storm has passed.
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Isaiah 26 with Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for the doubled shalom shalom of verse 3 (the “perfect peace”), for tzur olamim in verse 4 (the “everlasting strength,” literally the Rock of ages), and for the much-discussed resurrection language of verse 19.
- Isaiah 26 ↔ John 14 · Philippians 4 · 1 Corinthians 15Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Isaiah 26 to the rest of Scripture - the kept peace of verse 3 read alongside the peace Christ leaves with His own (John 14:27) and the peace that guards the mind (Phil. 4:7), and the dead who live and sing in verse 19 read beside the resurrection hope of 1 Corinthians 15 and I am the resurrection, and the life (John 11:25).
- Isaiah 26 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Isaiah 26 - the strong city whose walls are salvation (vv. 1-2), the doubled-word construction behind “perfect peace” in verse 3, the divine titles stacked in verse 4, and the translation questions in the resurrection promise of verse 19.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace
- John 14:27Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.The kept peace of verse 3 held out in person - not the world’s fragile calm but a peace that steadies the heart.
- Philippians 4:6-7the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.Isaiah’s promise carried forward - a peace that keeps the mind, given to the one who trusts instead of frets.
- Psalm 18:2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust.The everlasting Rock of verse 4 - the strength a trusting life leans its whole weight upon.
- Deuteronomy 32:4He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity.The same name as verse 4 - God as the Rock, sound and unchanging through every age.
- Matthew 7:24-25whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them... built his house upon a rock... and it fell not.The strength of trusting the Rock (v. 4) - a life founded on what cannot be moved when the floods rise.
With My Soul Have I Desired Thee in the Night
- Psalm 63:6-8When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches... my soul followeth hard after thee.The very posture of verse 9 - the soul reaching for God through the night and clinging close.
- Mark 1:35in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out... and there prayed.The night-and-dawn seeking of verse 9 lived out - the One the song trusts meeting His Father in the dark.
- Jeremiah 29:13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.The promise behind the longing of verses 8-9 - the whole-hearted seeker is never turned away.
- Philippians 2:13it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.The confession of verse 12 - that even our good works are God’s own work wrought in us.
- John 17:3this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.The soul’s deepest desire in verse 8 - not God’s gifts but God Himself, which is life.
Thy Dead Men Shall Live
- John 11:25-26I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.The promise of verse 19 named in person - the One who calls the dead to live, standing before a grave.
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-22now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept... in Christ shall all be made alive.Isaiah’s “thy dead men shall live” carried forward - resurrection as the firstfruits of a whole harvest.
- Daniel 12:2many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life.The same image as verse 19 - the sleepers in the dust awakened, the grave giving back its dead.
- John 5:28-29all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.The command of verse 19 answered - the dead in the dust hearing a voice and coming out alive.
- Psalm 30:5weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.The shape of verses 9 and 20 - the night of trouble, the little moment of indignation, and the morning that follows.