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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
- Ps 119:62At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
- Ps 63:1O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
- Song 3:1–4By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
- Ps 63:6–7When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
- Luke 6:12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
- Ps 58:11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
- Mark 1:35And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
- Rev 11:13And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
- Prov 8:17I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
- Ps 77:2–3In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
- Isa 55:6Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
- Song 5:2–8I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
- Hos 5:15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
- Ps 64:9And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
- Isa 27:9By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
- Ps 83:18That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
- Ps 130:6My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
- Ps 78:34When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
- Num 14:21–23But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be 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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