Fathers

Isaiah 26

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In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith. You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock. For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.” The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level. Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul. With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see Yahweh’s majesty. Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries. Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us. Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but we will only acknowledge your name. The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish. You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land. Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them. Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before you, Yahweh. We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits. Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

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What the Fathers say

Isaiah 26:12

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

But I say all this now, and select all the histories that contain trials and tribulations, and the wrath of kings, and their evil designs, in order that we may fear nothing, save only offending God. For then also was there a furnace burning; yet they derided it, but feared sin. For they knew that if they were consumed in the fire, they should suffer nothing that was to be dreaded; but that if they were guilty of impiety: they should undergo the extremes of misery. …

Homilies Concerning The Statues 6:14 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

The time when our external enemy the devil will be under our feet is when the internal enemy, covetousness, has been healed, and we shall be living in peace. What sort of peace? The sort that "eye has not seen nor ear heard." What sort of peace? The sort that no imagination can conceive and no quarreling intrude on. What sort of peace? …

Sermon 77A.2 ↗

Jerome

Lord, you will give us peace: for you have accomplished all our works for us. LXX: Lord our God, give us peace: for you have restored all things to us. It is notable that after restoring our works to us, he will give peace, and how he will explain the reasons why he seeks peace. For all the works that have been done on earth, they claim to have endured torments, and it is just that after punishment and torture, they obtain mercy. …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

Through all that we do, therefore, let us return with a careful mind to the fountain of true light. Let us give thanks to our Creator for the good things we receive, and let us humbly say to him with the prophet Isaiah: "All our works you have worked for us." For our good works are the works of him whose heart it did not suffice to raise us up unless he also bowed down himself for us. For if God, coeternal with the Father before the ages, had not become man in time, when would temporal man have tasted eternal things? …

Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 5 ↗