Isaiah 26:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

NIV: But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise-- let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy-- your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

NASB: Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

CSB: Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

NLT: But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!

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 the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

NKJV: Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.

The ultimate expression of God's grace is His resurrection of those who come to faith in His Son, Jesus (1 John 3:1–3). Isaiah has been clear (Isaiah 26:16–18) that Israel has been unfaithful to the Lord. Isaiah's generation is one of many which squandered the opportunity to be used effectively by the Lord (Numbers 14:20–23). Had they remained fully faithful to Him, keeping the covenant the Lord made with them, He would have given them endless victory over their enemies (Deuteronomy 28:1–7). Their legacy would have been bringing justice and peace to the world.

Instead, Israel was unfaithful to God. The nation repeatedly suffered the distress of God's punishment as they were defeated by those they could have overcome with the Lord's blessing on them. The nation fell behind and failed to deliver the earth from wickedness.

The Lord has remained faithful both to His purposes and to His people. He is faithful to His purpose in that He raised up the Messiah, His own Son, from the people of Israel. Through Jesus, the Lord has, and will accomplish, what He could have done through faithful Israel. God will ultimately bring judgment on the earth and blessing to all the nations through Christ.

God's promises to Israel are never failing in this: when the Messiah has won that ultimate victory, He will raise His people from death to new life in new physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51). Isaiah declares in this verse that the dead will live. Alive once more, the dead who belonged to the Lord will sing for joy. The earth will be refreshed by the awakened dead as the dew refreshes the ground in the morning. Isaiah completes his metaphor about childbirth by describing the birth that the Lord will finally bring about: the dead reborn to new life (Isaiah 26:17–18).

The Old Testament rarely describes resurrection. One of the few places is in Daniel 12:2: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." One reason the Old Testament doesn't often touch on resurrection may be because it can only be understood in the context of Christ. Jesus, the Messiah, had to be resurrected following His death on the cross to demonstrate God's final plan for human forgiveness. Paul leaves no room for doubt: resurrection is the destiny of every believer. There's no point to Christianity without it (1 Corinthians 15:12–28).

Chapter 26 is a song to be sung in the land of Judah during the time of the Lord's reign as king over the earth. The towering city of wickedness has been replaced by the strong city of salvation. Isaiah waits, longing for the Lord to come and judge the sinfulness of the world. The Lord will bring peace to Israel for good. Their other rulers are dead and not worthy of remembering. The Lord's discipline has caused His people to turn back to Him. The dead among them will be resurrected after the fury of His judgment.

Chapter 26 is part of a larger section that includes chapters 24–27. The section of the book follows the descriptions of the Lord's judgment on the earth and the beginning of His kingdom through a song to be sung in Judah during that time. The wicked city of the world has been replaced with the city of salvation. Isaiah longs for the Lord to come and judge the earth. The prophet wants all to see the Lord's zeal for His own people by destroying His enemies. Isaiah remembers God's discipline and looks forward to the resurrection of the dead among His people.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).