Book of Isaiah Chapter 26 Summary

We Are the Champions

  • In Judah, everyone will sing a victory song when they've come through all the rough stuff, emerging in an era of peace.
  • The song celebrates God's defeat of Judah's enemies. The people of Judah will now enter into a "strong city" themselves, supported by God.
  • God helped them by destroying the lofty cities and letting the feet of the poor and needy trample the dust of those places.
  • God prepares the way of the righteous, aiding people in their attempts to behave better.
  • The singer sings about how God is, alone, his soul's great desire.
  • The wicked seem to be favored and keep enjoying themselves in a land that's supposed to be upright.
  • The singer asks God to make sure those wicked folks are put down and realize who's the boss. God will favor his own people and consume their adversaries with fire.
  • The singer says that the people only acknowledge God as their ruler, though others have ruled over them.
  • The dead whom God has punished will remain dead, but God will make his own kingdom bigger and better.

Bringing Up the Dead

  • The people of Judah were like a woman in the anguish of labor pains while waiting for God. They struggled and writhed but "gave birth only to wind."
  • They look forward to a possible resurrection, however, when the dead will rise—like the earth giving birth to them.
  • The singer says that people should hide until God's wrath is past.
  • The earth will reveal all the dead people buried in it and the blood that has been poured into it.