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17 As a woman about to give birth
    writhes and cries out in pain,
    so were we before you, Lord.(A)
18 We conceived and writhed in pain,
    giving birth only to wind;
Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,
    no inhabitants for the world were born.(B)
19 [a]But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise!
    Awake and sing, you who lie in the dust!
For your dew is a dew of light,
    and you cause the land of shades to give birth.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 26:19 This verse refers not to resurrection of the dead, but to the restoration of the people; cf. Ez 37. The population of Judah was radically reduced by the slaughter and deportations that the historical disasters of the late eighth and seventh centuries B.C. brought upon the country. In this context, a major concern for the future was for an increase in the population, a rebirth of the nation’s life.

17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth(A)
    writhes and cries out in her pain,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We were with child, we writhed in labor,
    but we gave birth(B) to wind.
We have not brought salvation(C) to the earth,
    and the people of the world have not come to life.(D)

19 But your dead(E) will live, Lord;
    their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust(F)
    wake up and shout for joy—
your dew(G) is like the dew of the morning;
    the earth will give birth to her dead.(H)

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