Isaiah Chapter 26
Isaiah 26, Judah’s Kingdom of God Song
Isaiah 26 continues the kingdom praise that follows the worldwide judgment of Isaiah 24 and the victory song of Isaiah 25. The chapter looks ahead to the day when Messiah reigns, Judah sings, the city of God stands secure, the righteous enter through open gates, and the proud city of man is brought down to the dust. It also gives one of the great promises of Scripture, perfect peace for the one whose mind is stayed on the Lord. The chapter then contrasts the way of the upright with the way of the wicked, presents the humble prayer of God’s people, declares the hope of resurrection, and closes with a promise of refuge during the Lord’s indignation upon the inhabitants of the earth.
Isaiah 26:1-2
Isaiah 26:1-2, KJV, “In 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. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.”
The phrase “In that day” connects this song to the prophetic context of Isaiah 24 and 25. Isaiah has been describing the worldwide judgment of the Lord, the defeat of proud human power, the feast on Mount Zion, the swallowing up of death in victory, and the Lord’s reign in Jerusalem. Therefore, this song belongs to the day of Messiah’s triumph, when Judah will rejoice under the righteous rule of the Lord.
The song begins, “We have a strong city.” This is the city of God in contrast to the city of man. Throughout Scripture, man builds cities for security, identity, pride, wealth, and self glory. After the fall, human civilization often organized itself apart from God. Cain built a city. Babel became a monument to human pride. Babylon became the great picture of rebellion. Tyre became a picture of commercial glory. But in Isaiah 26, the city is strong because God appoints its salvation.
The city of God is not strong because of human walls, military power, political influence, or economic greatness. Isaiah says, “salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” The protection of this city is salvation itself. The Lord surrounds His people with His saving power. In the kingdom, security will not rest upon fallen human systems, but upon the accomplished deliverance and righteous rule of God.
Psalm 46:4-5, KJV, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, holy place of tabernacles of most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.”
The city is secure because God is in the midst of her. That is the foundation of true strength. Cities without God may look powerful for a time, but they eventually fall. The city where God reigns cannot finally be overthrown.
Isaiah then says, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” The gates are opened for the righteous nation, for those who keep the truth. The city of God is not a city of moral confusion. It is not open to rebellion, idolatry, corruption, and unbelief. It is a righteous city, entered by a righteous people.
This does not mean people enter by self righteousness. Scripture is clear that righteousness before God comes by faith. But those who are justified by faith are also marked by truth. They keep the truth because they belong to the God of truth.
Habakkuk 2:4, KJV, “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
The righteous live by faith, and that faith produces allegiance to the truth. In Isaiah’s kingdom vision, the city is strong, the gates are open, and the righteous nation enters because God has established salvation as its defense.
This should also be distinguished from the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. Isaiah 26 is focused on the kingdom reign of Messiah connected with Judah, Zion, and the earth. Revelation 21 describes the New Jerusalem after the first heaven and first earth have passed away. Yet the principle is similar, God’s city is holy, glorious, secure, and closed to the unclean.
Revelation 21:27, KJV, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”
The city of God is never built on compromise with sin. It is established by salvation, righteousness, and truth.
Isaiah 26:3-4
Isaiah 26:3-4, KJV, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.”
This is one of the great promises in all of Isaiah. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.” The Hebrew idea behind “perfect peace” is often understood as shalom shalom, peace repeated for intensity. It is not thin peace, shallow peace, temporary peace, or circumstantial peace. It is deep, complete, settled peace that comes from the Lord Himself.
The promise is not merely that God gives peace occasionally, but that He keeps His people in peace. To be kept is to be guarded, preserved, held, and sustained. The world can offer distraction, medication, entertainment, escape, and temporary calm, but only God can keep a soul in perfect peace.
The condition is stated clearly, “whose mind is stayed on thee.” The mind must be fixed, rested, leaned, and settled upon the Lord. This is not a passing religious thought. It is not merely remembering God for a few moments during crisis. It is a mind that leans its weight upon Him. The battle for peace is often fought in the mind before it is seen in the emotions.
Matthew 22:37, KJV, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
The Lord commands love with the mind. The Christian life is not anti intellectual. It requires disciplined thinking, truth governed thought, and deliberate meditation upon the Lord.
Romans 12:2, KJV, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Transformation comes by the renewing of the mind. A mind filled with fear, bitterness, lust, panic, envy, resentment, and worldly noise will not walk in perfect peace. A mind stayed upon the Lord is guarded by His truth.
Colossians 3:2, KJV, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth.”
The mind must be set. The believer must decide where his mind will rest. If the mind is stayed on problems, enemies, politics, finances, health fears, personal failure, or the wickedness of the age, peace will be disturbed. Those things may be real, but they are not strong enough to carry the soul. The Lord is.
Isaiah adds, “because he trusteth in thee.” A stayed mind and a trusting heart go together. A man’s mind usually rests upon what he trusts. If he trusts money, his mind returns to money. If he trusts government, his mind returns to politics. If he trusts himself, his mind returns to his own plans. If he trusts the Lord, his mind returns to the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV, “Trust in LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
To trust the Lord is to lean on Him rather than leaning on one’s own understanding. That is exactly the point of Isaiah 26:3. The mind stayed on God is the mind leaning on God.
Verse 4 commands, “Trust ye in the LORD for ever.” This is not a temporary religious strategy. The Lord is to be trusted forever because He is forever trustworthy. Isaiah gives the reason, “for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” The Lord does not merely possess strength. He is everlasting strength. His strength does not weaken, age, decay, fail, or run out.
Psalm 18:2, KJV, “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom will trust; my buckler, and horn of my salvation, and high tower.”
The Lord Himself is the strength of His people. Perfect peace is possible because everlasting strength upholds the one who trusts Him.
Isaiah 26:5-6
Isaiah 26:5-6, KJV, “For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to ground; he bringeth it even to dust. The foot shall tread it down, even feet of poor, and steps of needy.”
Isaiah now contrasts the strong city of God with the lofty city of man. The city of man is proud. It dwells on high. It exalts itself. It builds its identity on power, prestige, wealth, and human achievement. But the Lord brings it down.
The repetition is forceful, “he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.” God does not merely weaken proud human systems. He brings them all the way down. The city that exalted itself is humbled to dust.
This theme runs through Isaiah. Human pride is always on borrowed time. Whether the proud city is Babylon, Tyre, Jerusalem in rebellion, or the final world system, the Lord will bring it down. The city of man cannot survive the judgment of God.
Isaiah 2:11-12, KJV, “The lofty looks of man shall humbled, and haughtiness of men shall bowed down, and LORD alone shall exalted in that day. For day of LORD of hosts shall upon every one proud and lofty, and upon every one lifted up; and he shall brought low.”
The Lord’s day is against pride. The reason is simple, pride competes with God’s glory. Man exalts himself, but the Lord alone will be exalted.
Verse 6 gives a striking reversal, “The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.” The city of man often builds its power on the backs of the poor and needy. It uses the weak, exploits labor, honors the rich, and crushes those without influence. But in God’s kingdom, the poor and needy tread down the proud city.
This does not mean the poor are righteous merely because they are poor. It means the Lord reverses the world’s order. Those despised by the proud world will be vindicated. The meek inherit what the proud tried to seize.
Matthew 5:5, KJV, “Blessed are meek: for they shall inherit earth.”
Jesus teaches the same kingdom principle. The meek, not the proud, inherit the earth. The world honors dominance, manipulation, wealth, and status. The kingdom honors humility, faith, righteousness, and dependence upon God.
Isaiah 26:7-9
Isaiah 26:7-9, KJV, “The way of just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh path of just. Yea, in way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; desire of our soul is to thy name, and to remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in earth, inhabitants of world will learn righteousness.”
The song now turns to the way of the righteous. “The way of the just is uprightness.” The just are those made right with God by faith, and their way is uprightness. Justification and upright living belong together. A man is not justified by his works, but a justified man is called to walk uprightly.
Ephesians 2:8-10, KJV, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that should walk in them.”
Grace saves apart from works, but grace also produces good works. Isaiah’s order is right. The just walk in uprightness because God has made them His people.
The Lord is addressed as “most upright.” God’s people walk in uprightness because they serve the Upright One. His character defines their path. He does not merely command righteousness from a distance. He is righteous. He weighs the path of the just. He examines, measures, and evaluates the way His people walk.
This should sober the believer. The Lord cares about the path of His people. He is not indifferent to conduct, direction, habits, motives, or choices. He weighs the path.
Verse 8 says, “in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee.” The righteous wait for the Lord even when His judgments are unfolding. Waiting on God is faith stretched over time. The believer may not see immediate deliverance, but he trusts the Lord’s timing.
The heart of the righteous is revealed in the next phrase, “the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.” The righteous do not merely want rescue from trouble. They want God Himself. His name, His character, His honor, and His remembrance are their desire.
This is a mark of true faith. A religious man may desire blessings from God, but the righteous desire God. They want His name honored. They want His memory treasured. They want His glory known.
Psalm 73:25-26, KJV, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God strength of my heart, and portion for ever.”
Verse 9 intensifies this desire, “With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.” The righteous seek the Lord at night and early in the morning. In the night, when fears grow and the world is quiet, the soul desires God. In the morning, before the day’s burdens take over, the spirit seeks Him.
This is not mechanical religion. It is hunger for God. The man who truly desires the Lord will seek Him when it is dark and when the day begins.
Isaiah then gives the purpose of God’s judgments, “for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” God’s judgments teach what man refuses to learn through mercy. When men ignore God’s goodness, they often must learn through correction. Judgment reveals that righteousness matters, sin has consequences, and God cannot be mocked.
Isaiah 26:10-11
Isaiah 26:10-11, KJV, “Let favour be shewed to wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold majesty of LORD. LORD, when thy hand lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and ashamed for envy at people; yea, fire of thine enemies shall devour them.”
Isaiah now describes the way of the wicked. “Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness.” This is one of the clearest statements in Scripture concerning the hardness of the unrepentant heart. Grace shown outwardly does not automatically change the wicked. Many receive health, food, rain, family, opportunity, protection, and time, yet they do not learn righteousness.
Romans 2:4-5, KJV, “Or despisest thou riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment of God.”
God’s goodness should lead men to repentance, but the wicked often despise that goodness and harden themselves. Isaiah says that even “in the land of uprightness” the wicked will deal unjustly. Put a wicked man in a righteous environment, and without a changed heart, he will still act wickedly. Environment matters, but it cannot regenerate the heart.
The wicked “will not behold the majesty of the LORD.” This is not because God’s majesty is absent. It is because their eyes are morally blind. They refuse to see what is plain. Verse 11 says, “when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see.” God’s hand is lifted in warning, judgment, and power, but the wicked refuse to recognize it.
However, refusal to see will not last forever. Isaiah says, “but they shall see, and be ashamed.” There will come a day when the wicked are forced to see what they refused to acknowledge. They will be ashamed for their envy and hostility toward God’s people. The fire of God’s enemies will devour them.
This is a sober warning. Mercy rejected leads to judgment. Favor despised leads to shame. The wicked may refuse to see now, but they will see then.
Isaiah 26:12-18
Isaiah 26:12-18, KJV, “LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They 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. Thou hast increased nation, O LORD, thou hast increased nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed far unto all ends of earth. LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out prayer when thy chastening upon them. Like as woman with child, that draweth near 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; we have not wrought any deliverance in earth; neither have inhabitants of world fallen.”
This section is the prayer of a humbled people. It begins, “LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us.” Peace is not self generated. God ordains it. The same Lord who keeps the trusting mind in perfect peace also establishes peace for His people nationally and corporately.
The next phrase is one of the deepest confessions in the chapter, “for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.” The humble heart recognizes that even the good works of God’s people are the result of God’s work in them. This does not remove human responsibility. It gives God the glory. The believer works, but God works in the believer.
Philippians 2:12-13, KJV, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in presence only, but now much more in absence, work out own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of good pleasure.”
The believer works out what God works in. Isaiah’s confession agrees perfectly with the New Testament. God is the source of spiritual fruit, faithful obedience, and lasting work.
The people confess, “other lords beside thee have had dominion over us.” This is repentance over past bondage. Israel had submitted herself to idols, foreign powers, false masters, and sinful dominions. The word for dominion is related to the idea of mastery, and it reminds us that whatever a man serves becomes his master.
Yet the humble confession continues, “by thee only will we make mention of thy name.” The people now renounce rival lords and confess exclusive allegiance to the Lord. This is the language of restored devotion.
Hosea 14:3, KJV, “Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to work of our hands, Ye gods: for in thee fatherless findeth mercy.”
That is the same spirit. No more trusting Assyria. No more trusting horses. No more calling idols gods. The humble heart returns to the Lord alone.
Verse 14 says of these other lords, “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise.” False masters are mortal and powerless. Idols cannot live. Pagan powers cannot finally rise. The Lord has destroyed them and made their memory perish. The gods men fear are nothing before the true God.
Verse 15 acknowledges that increase comes from the Lord, “Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD.” Israel’s enlargement, survival, and blessing are not due to her greatness, but to God’s faithfulness. The Lord is glorified when He increases His people according to His covenant purpose.
Verse 16 says, “LORD, in trouble have they visited thee.” Trouble often exposes what prosperity hides. When chastening came upon them, they poured out prayer. This is not the highest motive, but it is often the honest beginning of repentance. God uses trouble to bring His people back to prayer.
Psalm 119:67, KJV, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”
Affliction can become mercy when it turns a wandering heart back to God.
The final image is painful. The people compare themselves to a woman in labor, but instead of bringing forth a living child, they have “brought forth wind.” They had pain, effort, expectation, and struggle, but no deliverance. Apart from God’s power and blessing, human labor produces futility. They could not accomplish deliverance in the earth. They could not bring down the inhabitants of the world. Their efforts were empty without the Lord.
This is a necessary confession. God’s people must learn that self effort, political schemes, fleshly strength, and religious activity apart from the Lord cannot produce true deliverance. Only God saves.
Isaiah 26:19
Isaiah 26:19, KJV, “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 dew of herbs, and earth shall cast out dead.”
After the confession of human futility comes the promise of resurrection. “Thy dead men shall live.” This is one of the clearest Old Testament statements of resurrection hope. The righteous dead are not forgotten. The grave is not final. Those who dwell in dust will awake and sing.
The phrase “together with my dead body shall they arise” points to bodily resurrection. Biblical hope is not merely the survival of the soul in some vague spiritual sense. It is resurrection. The body that dies will be raised by the power of God.
Daniel 12:2, KJV, “And many of them that sleep in dust of earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Daniel also teaches resurrection from the dust, with a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Isaiah emphasizes the joyful resurrection of God’s people.
The New Testament brings this doctrine into fuller light through Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:10, KJV, “But is now made manifest by appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through gospel.”
Christ has brought life and immortality to light. The Old Testament saints had real resurrection hope, but the full clarity came through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
John 11:25-26, KJV, “Jesus said unto her, I am resurrection, and life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
Jesus does not merely teach resurrection. He is the resurrection and the life. Isaiah’s promise finds its guarantee in Him.
The command “Awake and sing” is beautiful. Resurrection is not merely awakening to existence. It is awakening to joy. Those who dwelt in dust will sing because death has lost its claim over them.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, KJV, “For Lord himself shall descend from heaven with shout, with voice of archangel, and with trump of God: and dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive remain shall caught up together with them in clouds, to meet Lord in air: and so shall we ever be with Lord.”
The dead in Christ will rise. The resurrection hope is not symbolic comfort. It is a future bodily reality grounded in the victory of Christ.
Isaiah 26:20-21
Isaiah 26:20-21, KJV, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for little moment, until indignation be overpast. For, behold, LORD cometh out of his place to punish inhabitants of earth for their iniquity: earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”
The chapter closes with a call to refuge. “Come, my people.” This is tender, covenantal language. The Lord speaks to those who belong to Him. He invites them to enter chambers, shut the doors, and hide for a little moment until the indignation is past.
The refuge is secure. The doors are shut. God’s people are hidden. The indignation is temporary from their perspective, “as it were for a little moment.” The Lord’s wrath upon the earth is severe, but it is not endless in this context. It passes, and God’s people are sheltered from it.
Verse 21 explains the nature of this indignation, “For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” This is not merely persecution from wicked men. This is divine judgment from the Lord Himself. The objects are “the inhabitants of the earth,” a phrase that fits the same category seen in Revelation, those aligned with the rebellious world system during the Tribulation.
Revelation 3:10, KJV, “Because thou hast kept word of my patience, I also will keep thee from hour of temptation, which shall come upon all world, to try them that dwell upon earth.”
The Lord promises to keep His faithful people from the hour that comes upon all the world to try the earth dwellers. Isaiah 26:20-21 strongly supports the truth that God has a refuge for His people before the outpouring of His indignation.
This fits the pretribulation rapture position. The church is not appointed to wrath. The Lord removes His redeemed before the Great Tribulation, the period of divine indignation upon the inhabitants of the earth.
1 Thessalonians 5:9, KJV, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, KJV, “For Lord himself shall descend from heaven with shout, with voice of archangel, and with trump of God: and dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive remain shall caught up together with them in clouds, to meet Lord in air: and so shall we ever be with Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
The rapture is a comfort because believers will be caught up to meet the Lord before the wrath of the Tribulation is poured out. Isaiah’s language of entering chambers and hiding until indignation passes is consistent with that expectation.
There may also be a secondary application to the Jewish remnant protected during the Tribulation.
Revelation 12:6, KJV, “And woman fled into wilderness, where she hath place prepared of God, that they should feed her there thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
Revelation 12:14, KJV, “And to woman were given two wings of great eagle, that she might fly into wilderness, into her place, where she nourished for time, and times, and half time, from face of serpent.”
God will protect Israel’s remnant from the fury of Satan and the Antichrist. Yet Isaiah 26:20-21 most directly points to the broader principle that God shelters His people from the Lord’s own indignation poured upon the earth.
The final line says, “the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Hidden blood will be exposed. Unpunished murder will be answered. The earth will no longer conceal the violence committed upon it. God will bring justice to light.
Genesis 4:10, KJV, “And he said, What hast thou done? voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from ground.”
From Abel onward, shed blood cries out before God. Isaiah says the day is coming when the earth will disclose her blood. The Lord will judge iniquity fully and publicly.
Isaiah 26 therefore ends with both comfort and terror. Comfort for God’s people, because they are called into refuge. Terror for the earth dwellers, because the Lord comes out of His place to punish iniquity. The only safe place is under the saving protection of the Lord.
