13 O Lord our God,
    (A)other lords besides you have ruled over us,
    (B)but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
    they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
    and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 (C)But you have increased the nation, O Lord,
    you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
    (D)you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16 O Lord, (E)in distress they sought you;
    they poured out a whispered prayer
    when your discipline was upon them.
17 (F)Like a pregnant woman
    who writhes and cries out in her pangs
    when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
18     (G)we were pregnant, we writhed,
    but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
    and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 (H)Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
    You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For (I)your dew is a dew of light,
    and the earth will give birth to the dead.

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13 Lord our God, other lords(A) besides you have ruled over us,
    but your name(B) alone do we honor.(C)
14 They are now dead,(D) they live no more;
    their spirits(E) do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;(F)
    you wiped out all memory of them.(G)
15 You have enlarged the nation, Lord;
    you have enlarged the nation.(H)
You have gained glory for yourself;
    you have extended all the borders(I) of the land.

16 Lord, they came to you in their distress;(J)
    when you disciplined(K) them,
    they could barely whisper(L) a prayer.[a]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth(M)
    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(N) to wind.
We have not brought salvation(O) to the earth,
    and the people of the world have not come to life.(P)

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

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.