Isaiah 26

Kommentar zu diesem Kapitel

KI zu diesem Kapitel fragen

Isaiah 26 is a song to be sung "in that day" in the land of Judah. It celebrates a strong city whose walls are salvation. Its best-known line promises perfect peace to the one whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in the LORD, the Rock eternal. The middle of the song is a prayer of longing and honesty: we have waited for you, we have been like a woman in labor who gave birth only to wind, other lords have ruled us. Then comes one of the Old Testament's clearest words of resurrection: your dead will live, their bodies will rise, awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust. It ends with a call to hide behind shut doors until God's wrath has passed.

Kapitelkommentar öffnen

Isaiah 26 is a song written for a day that has not yet come. It imagines Judah singing about a strong city whose walls are salvation, with gates thrown open for a faithful nation, while the proud city that ruled the world lies in the dust under the feet of the poor. In the middle of that vision sits the verse that most people know from this chapter: you will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. The Hebrew simply says peace, peace, and the next line gives the reason, that the LORD is a Rock that lasts forever. But the song does not stay on the heights. It turns into a prayer that is honest about the night, about longing for God in the dark, about other lords who have ruled over the people, and, most strikingly, about labor that came to nothing. We were pregnant, the people say, we writhed in pain, and we gave birth to wind. We accomplished no salvation. It is one of the most candid confessions of failure in the Bible, and the answer to it is one of the most astonishing promises. Your dead will live. Their bodies will rise. Wake up and sing, you who sleep in the dust, for your dew is the dew of morning and the earth will give up her dead. Then a final instruction, straight out of the first Passover: go into your rooms, shut the doors, and wait a little while, because the LORD is coming out to set the earth right.

Historischer und literarischer Kontext

The chapter belongs to Isaiah 24 to 27, often called the Isaiah Apocalypse, a section that looks beyond the crises of Isaiah's own eighth century to a judgment of the whole earth and a feast for all peoples. Its "lofty city" is unnamed, standing for every proud power, and its "strong city" is Jerusalem as God will make it. Verse 20, with the people shut in their rooms while wrath passes, echoes the first Passover, when Israel stayed indoors while the destroyer went through Egypt. The resurrection hope of verse 19 stands alongside Daniel 12 as the Old Testament's most explicit statement that the dead will rise, a hope that later Jewish and Christian faith developed fully. Scholars differ on whether the section is from Isaiah or from a later hand.

Wie sich das Kapitel entfaltet

Verses 1 to 6 are the song of the strong city and the fall of the lofty one. Verses 7 to 11 describe the path of the righteous, the night-long longing for God, and the observation that the wicked learn nothing from grace but will learn from judgment. Verses 12 to 15 confess that all Israel's achievements are God's doing, that other lords have ruled and are gone, and that God has enlarged the nation. Verses 16 to 18 are the lament of the birth pangs that produced only wind. Verse 19 answers with the promise that the dead will live. Verses 20 and 21 call the people to shelter while the LORD comes out to punish the earth.

Warum dieses Kapitel wichtig ist

Verse 3, "You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You," is one of the most memorized promises in Isaiah; the Hebrew says "peace, peace," and the King James "whose mind is stayed on thee" has shaped hymns and gravestones. Verse 4 gave English the phrase "Rock of Ages." Verse 19 is a foundation text for the doctrine of resurrection and is read at Easter and at funerals. The chapter's honesty in verse 18, that God's people can labor and produce nothing, gives permission for realism in prayer, and its shut doors in verse 20 have been a picture of refuge in God during times of judgment.

Auslegungsfrage im Blick behalten

Verse 14 says the dead will not live and verse 19 says they will, and the two are reconciled only by noticing their subjects: the oppressor lords are gone for good, while God's people will rise. Whether verse 19 means the restoration of the nation, as the dry bones of Ezekiel 37 do, or the bodily resurrection of individuals is debated; most readers hear at least the beginning of the second. Verse 10 says grace does not teach the wicked righteousness, a hard observation that the New Testament partly answers with the kindness of God that leads to repentance. The section's date and the identity of the lofty city remain open.

Fragen zu diesem Kapitel

  • Verse 3 ties peace to a mind that is steadfast. What keeps a mind fixed on God when circumstances are not peaceful?
  • Verse 18 admits that the people's struggle "gave birth to wind." Why is that confession placed just before the promise of resurrection?
  • Verse 20 tells the people to hide for a little while. When is waiting behind shut doors an act of faith rather than fear?

Mit Kontext studieren

Nutze dies als Kapitel-Leitfaden und gehe dann tiefer in den Text selbst. Ziel ist es, die Beobachtung zu verlangsamen, die Struktur wahrzunehmen und bessere Fragen zu stellen, bevor man vorschnell zu Schlussfolgerungen kommt.

1 当那日,在犹大地人必唱这歌[说]: 我们有坚固的城。 耶和华要将救恩定为城墙,为外郭。 2 敞开城门, 使守信的义民得以进入。 3 坚心倚赖[你的], 你必保守他十分平安, 因为他倚靠你。 4 你们当倚靠耶和华直到永远, 因为耶和华是永久的磐石。 5 他使住高处的与高城一并败落, 将城拆毁,拆平,直到尘埃, 6 要被脚践踏, 就是被困苦人的脚和穷乏人的脚践踏。 7 义人的道是正直的; 你为正直的[主],必修平义人的路。 8 耶和华啊,我们在你行审判的路上等候你; 我们心里所羡慕的是你的名, 就是你那可记念的[名]。 9 夜间,我心中羡慕你; 我里面的灵切切寻求你。 因为你在世上行审判的时候, 地上的居民就学习公义。 10 以恩惠待恶人, 他仍不学习公义; 在正直的地上,他必行事不义, 也不注意耶和华的威严。 11 耶和华啊,你的手高举, 他们仍然不看; 却要看你为百姓发的热心,因而抱愧, 并且有火烧灭你的敌人。 12 耶和华啊,你必派定我们得平安, 因为我们所做的事都是你给我们成就的。 13 耶和华—我们的 神啊, 在你以外曾有别的主管辖我们, 但我们专要倚靠你,提你的名。 14 他们死了,必不能再活; 他们去世,必不能再起; 因为你刑罚他们,毁灭他们, 他们的名号就全然消灭。 15 耶和华啊,你增添国民, 你增添国民; 你得了荣耀, 又扩张地的四境。 16 耶和华啊,他们在急难中寻求你; 你的惩罚临到他们身上, 他们就倾心吐胆祷告你。 17 妇人怀孕,临产疼痛, 在痛苦之中喊叫; 耶和华啊,我们在你面前也是如此。 18 我们也曾怀孕疼痛, 所产的竟像风一样。 我们在地上未曾行什么拯救的事; 世上的居民也未曾败落。 19 死人要复活, 尸首要兴起。 睡在尘埃的啊,要醒起歌唱! 因你的甘露[好像]菜蔬上的甘露, 地也要交出死人来。 20 我的百姓啊,你们要来进入内室, 关上门,隐藏片时, 等到忿怒过去。 21 因为耶和华从他的居所出来, 要刑罚地上居民的罪孽。 地也必露出其中的血, 不再掩盖被杀的人。

Mach aus Lesen echtes Bibelstudium

Registriere dich, um Verse zu speichern, Notizen zu machen und mit KI-gestützten Werkzeugen zu studieren.

Nächste Schritte nach diesem Kapitel Weiterlesen, Plan wählen oder mit KI weiterarbeiten.
Folge den Themen, die dieses Kapitel öffnet Verwandte Themenhubs, wenn dieses Kapitel eine größere Frage geöffnet hat.