Isaiah 26:11 (DRB)

Passage

Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 26:9 My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.

Isaiah 26:10 Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.

Isaiah 26:11 Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

Isaiah 26:12 Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us.

Isaiah 26:13 O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lord", "hand", "exalted", "envious", "people", "confounded", "fire", and "devour". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lord" and "hand", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "Let us have pity on the wicked..." into verse 12's "Lord thou wilt give us peace for...", so "lord" and "hand" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "lord" and "hand" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.