16 Lord, they went to you in their distress;(A)
they poured out whispered prayers
because your discipline fell on them.[a]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,(B)
so we were before you, Lord.
18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;
we gave birth to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

19 Your dead will live; their bodies[b] will rise.(C)
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,[c]
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

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Footnotes

  1. 26:16 Hb obscure
  2. 26:19 Lit live; my body they
  3. 26:19 Lit For your dew is a dew of lights

16 Yahweh, in distress they have visited you;
    they poured out an incantation;[a]
    your discipline was on them.
17 Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes;
    she cries in her labor pains.

So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

18 We became pregnant, we writhed;
    we gave birth to wind.
We cannot bring about deliverance on the earth,
    and no inhabitants of the world are born.
19 Your dead shall live; their corpses[b] shall rise.
    Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust,
for your dew is celestial dew,[c]
    and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:16 Literally “whispering”
  2. Isaiah 26:19 Literally “my corpse;” some manuscripts propose an emendation to the suffix to change it to third person masculine plural (“their corpses”), which makes better sense
  3. Isaiah 26:19 Literally “dew of light”
  4. Isaiah 26:19 Or “you make the land of Rephaim fall”

16 Lord, they came to you in their distress;(A)
    when you disciplined(B) them,
    they could barely whisper(C) a prayer.[a]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth(D)
    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(E) to wind.
We have not brought salvation(F) to the earth,
    and the people of the world have not come to life.(G)

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

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Footnotes

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