Isaiah 26:16-19
English Standard Version
16 O Lord, (A)in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
17 (B)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 (C)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 (D)Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For (E)your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Isaiah 26:16-19
Lexham English Bible
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]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 26:16 Literally “whispering”
- 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
- Isaiah 26:19 Literally “dew of light”
- Isaiah 26:19 Or “you make the land of Rephaim fall”
Isaiah 26:16-19
New International Version
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)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
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