Isaiah 26:20 (DRB)

Passage

Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 26:18 We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

Isaiah 26:20 Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

Isaiah 26:21 For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "people", "enter", "chambers", "shut", "doors", "upon", "thee", and "hide". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "people" and "enter", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "Thy dead men shall live my slain..." into verse 21's "For behold the Lord will come out...", so "people" and "enter" 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 "people" and "enter" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.