26:1  IN THAT day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; [the Lord] sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.

26:2  Open the gates, that the [uncompromisingly] righteous nation which keeps her faith {and} her troth [with God] may enter in.

26:3  You will guard him {and} keep him in perfect {and} constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, {and} hopes confidently in You.

26:4  So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

26:5  For He has brought down the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city; He lays it low, lays it low to the ground; He brings it even to the dust.

26:6  The foot has trampled it down--even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

26:7  The way of the [consistently] righteous (those living in moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relationship of their lives) is level {and} straight; You, O [Lord], Who are upright, direct aright {and} make level the path of the [uncompromisingly] just {and} righteous.

26:8  Yes, in the path of Your judgments, O Lord, we wait [expectantly] for You; our heartfelt desire is for Your name and for the remembrance of You.

26:9  My soul yearns for You [O Lord] in the night, yes, my spirit within me seeks You earnestly; for [only] when Your judgments are in the earth will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God).

26:10  Though favor is shown to the wicked, yet they do not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness they deal perversely and refuse to see the majesty of the Lord.

26:11  Though Your hand is lifted high to strike, Lord, they do not see it. Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be ashamed; yes, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.

26:12  Lord, You will ordain peace (God's favor and blessings, both temporal and spiritual) for us, for You have also wrought in us {and} for us all our works.

26:13  O Lord, our God, other masters besides You have ruled over us, but we will acknowledge {and} mention Your name only.

26:14  They [the former tyrant masters] are dead, they shall not live {and} reappear; they are powerless ghosts, they shall not rise {and} come back. Therefore You have visited and made an end of them and caused every memory of them [every trace of their supremacy] to perish.

26:15  You have increased the nation, O Lord; You have increased the nation. You are glorified; You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

26:16  Lord, when they were in trouble {and} distress, they sought {and} visited You; they poured out a prayerful whisper when Your chastening was upon them.

26:17  As a woman with child drawing near the time of her delivery is in pain {and} writhes and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before You (at Your presence), O Lord.

26:18  We have been with child, we have been writhing {and} in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth [only] wind. We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world [of Israel] have not yet been born.

26:19  Your dead shall live [O Lord]; the bodies of our dead [saints] shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For Your dew [O Lord] is a dew of [sparkling] light [heavenly, supernatural dew]; and the earth shall cast forth the dead [to life again; for on the land of the shades of the dead You will let Your dew fall].

26:20  Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the [Lord's] wrath is past.

26:21  For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place [heaven] to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also will disclose the blood shed upon her and will no longer cover her slain {and} conceal her guilt.