Isaiah 26

Stretch the Borders of Life 1-6At that time, this song will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
   built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
   so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
   you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
   because they keep at it and don't quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
   because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
   he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
   as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
   build their lives on the reclaimed land.

7-10The path of right-living people is level.
   The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger
   in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you've done
   are all we'll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
   Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
   everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
   they don't seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
   blind to the splendor of God.

11-15You hold your hand up high, God,
   but they don't see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
   to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
   Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
   because everything we've done, you've done for us.
O God, our God, we've had other masters rule us,
   but you're the only Master we've ever known.
The dead don't talk,
   ghosts don't walk,
Because you've said, "Enough—that's all for you,"
   and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
   The more life you give, the more glory you display,
   and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!

16-18O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,
   when your discipline was so heavy
   they could barely whisper a prayer.
Like a woman having a baby,
   writhing in distress, screaming her pain
   as the baby is being born,
That's how we were because of you, O God.
   We were pregnant full-term.
We writhed in labor but bore no baby.
   We gave birth to wind.
Nothing came of our labor.
   We produced nothing living.
   We couldn't save the world.

19But friends, your dead will live,
   your corpses will get to their feet.
All you dead and buried,
   wake up! Sing!
Your dew is morning dew
   catching the first rays of sun,
The earth bursting with life,
   giving birth to the dead.

20-21Come, my people, go home
   and shut yourselves in.
Go into seclusion for a while
   until the punishing wrath is past,
Because God is sure to come from his place
   to punish the wrong of the people on earth.
Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;
   it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.