My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
Parallel translations
- WEB With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
- KJV With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
- NKJV With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
- NASB At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments, The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
- NLT In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The soul seeks God earnestly through the night, knowing that His judgments teach the world righteousness. God's discipline of the earth instructs people in His ways.
Overview
With deep nighttime longing the prophet seeks the Lord, observing that God's judgments lead the world's inhabitants to learn righteousness. Divine judgment serves a teaching purpose. It reminds readers that God's dealings, even severe ones, aim to turn hearts toward righteousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Matt 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
- Ps 119:62At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous judgments.
- Ps 63:1A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
- Song 3:1–4On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.
- Ps 63:6–7When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.
- Luke 6:12In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.
- Ps 58:11Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
- Mark 1:35Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.
- Rev 11:13And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
- Prov 8:17I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.
- Ps 77:2–3In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Isa 55:6Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Song 5:2–8I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
- Hos 5:15Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
- Ps 64:9Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
- Isa 27:9Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
- Ps 83:18May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
- Ps 130:6My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning.
- Ps 78:34When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
- Num 14:21–23“Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 26:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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