Isaiah 26:12-14

26:12 O Lord, you make us secure, ¹ 

for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. ² 

26:13 O Lord, our God,

masters other than you have ruled us,

but we praise your name alone.

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise. ³ 

That is because ⁴  you came in judgment ⁵  and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

[26:12]  ¹ tn Heb “O Lord, you establish peace for us.”

[26:12]  ² tc Some suggest emending גַּם כָּל (gam kol, “even all”) to כִּגְמֻל (kigmul, “according to the deed[s] of”) One might then translate “for according to what our deeds deserve, you have acted on our behalf.” Nevertheless, accepting the MT as it stands, the prophet affirms that Yahweh deserved all the credit for anything Israel had accomplished.

[26:14]  ³ sn In light of what is said in verse 14b, the “dead” here may be the “masters” mentioned in verse 13.

[26:14]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen) normally indicates a cause-effect relationship between what precedes and follows and is translated, “therefore.” Here, however, it infers the cause from the effect and brings out what is implicit in the previous statement. See BDB 487 s.v.

[26:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “visited [for harm]” (cf. KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “you have punished.”