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 26:19

Eastern Fathers

Cyril of Jerusalem

Do not listen to those who say that this body is not raised up; for raised it is, as Isaiah witnesses, saying, "The dead shall arise, and they in the tombs shall be raised." Or, as Daniel says, "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame." But while rising again is the common lot of all people, the manner of rising again is not alike for all. For while we all receive everlasting bodies, those bodies are not alike for all. …

Catechetical Lecture 4:31 ↗

Irenaeus

Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: "The dead shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from Thee is health to them."

Against Heresies 5:34.1 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

The first part [of the verse] concerns the resurrection of the just, but the last few words may be taken to mean "the bodies of the wicked will fall into the ruin of damnation." In regard to the resurrection of the just, the attentive reader will notice some distinction. "The dead shall rise" refers to the first resurrection; "those in the graves" refers to the second; and in the following words we may not improperly find a reference to the saints whom the Lord will find alive on earth. …

City of God 20.21 ↗

Jerome

Let your dead live; let corpses arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to the shades. LXX: The dead will rise, and they will rise from the graves, and those who are on the earth will rejoice. For your dew is their healing, but the earth of the wicked will fall. …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Thomas Aquinas

618. Second, the promise of restoration of the people through resurrection is set out, either bodily resurrection on the last day or resurrection from the misery of captivity. Hence resurrection is promised: your dead men shall live, the voice of the prophet to the Lord (Ezek 37); the thanksgiving of the resurrected is announced: awake, and give praise: many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake (Dan 12:2); and the cause, or reason, of the resurrection is assigned: for your dew is the dew of the light, namely, of …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗