Isaiah 26:3
Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the mind stayed [on thee], for he confideth in thee.
View all translations →Isaiah 26 opens "the song that will be heard in the land of Judah in that day" — when judgment has levelled every proud system and the faithful remnant find their only shelter in God Himself. Verse 3 sits as the heart-note of that song: a confession that those whose minds rest steadily on the Lord are kept in perfect peace because they trust Him.
The verse belongs to a remnant who have not yet emerged from tribulation but already sing by faith. Their peace is not built on calm circumstances but on God's salvation forming the city's walls.
W. TrotterThey call upon the gates to open "that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in." They can look all the intervening trouble in the face, extreme and unutterable though it be; for they are now by faith in their strong city, and can say, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee." Afflicted saint! what a lesson of strong consolation is here.
Samuel RidoutHere is the rod of God smiting everything into the dust; cities are laid low, strong places are made desolate, mighty Babylon and all the great places of the earth are as nothing. Yet in the midst of all this ruin, faith takes up its happy song and says, "we have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Who can shake that which is founded upon the acknowledged ruin of everything, by the mighty power of God Himself?
The peace of verse 3 follows the collapse of every human resource. The remnant's bulwarks are God's own salvation, not their own arms.
J. N. DarbyThey have a strong city, but its bulwarks are the salvation of God. The strength of man has no place here; it is the foot of the poor that treads down the lofty city. It is the judgment that the righteous God executes Himself.
The promise is conditional on a fixed direction of thought. To "stay" the mind on God is to refuse to let it drift among anxious things, and the result is a peace nothing outside can shake.
VariousWe cannot let our thoughts go astray; we must keep them on Him. Isaiah 26:3 tells us the Lord will keep us in perfect peace if we keep our minds on Him and keep trusting Him. Why let our thoughts run wild with anxious fear? The Lord has all things under control. He is, after all, the One who is above all and able to change all; and He wants to do what is for our greatest good.
H J VineThe Holy Spirit dwells in us to lead us into the things of God, to fill our thoughts with the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ; and as the mind is occupied with and furnished by these things, peace of mind is ours. We prove in our spiritual experience the truth of that word, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee" (Isa. 26:3). To have the mind guided in the right direction is all-important in this connection.
The verse anchors peace not just in attention but in confidence: "because he trusts in Thee." This is the practical lesson of Isaiah 26.
J T Mawson"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusts in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength" (vv. 3-4). Here the lesson is TRUST: a needed lesson if we are to be kept quiet and confident in the turbulent waters of sorrow and loss. We must trust, in the absolute goodness and wisdom and love of God… We must trust Him even when we cannot understand His way, and go on trusting—walking by faith and not by sight—this is the way of peace—perfect peace.
Those who know God most deeply have found this verse holds in every age, and it will hold until strife on earth ends under Christ's righteous rule.
J T Mawson"Thou wilt keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusted in Thee" (Isa. 26:3). This is true… It has been the blessed experience of the servants of God in the storms of the past; it is being surely proved by many of them in the present distress, and it will still be proved until days of strife on earth end in universal peace under the righteous sceptre of Him whose right it is to rule.
C. H. MackintoshOur only resource is in the living God. If our eyes are upon Him, nothing can harm us. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee."
- Prophetic setting. The verse is part of the remnant's song in Isaiah 24–27, sung by faith while judgment shakes every earthly stronghold.
- Salvation as wall. Peace rests on God's own salvation as the city's bulwark, not on human strength or favourable circumstances.
- Stayed mind. "Perfect peace" is conditional — the mind must be steadily fixed on God, not allowed to wander into anxious fear.
- Trust as foundation. Verses 3–4 link peace to ongoing trust, because in Jehovah is everlasting strength.
- Universally proved. Believers in past storms, present distress, and the future tribulation alike find this promise holds firm.