Isaiah 26:14-18

New International Reader's Version

¹⁴Those other masters are now dead.
    They will never live again.
    Their spirits won’t rise from the dead.
You punished them and destroyed them.
    You wiped out all memory of them.
¹⁵Lord, you have made our nation grow.
    You have made it larger.
You have gained glory for yourself.
    You have increased the size of our land.

¹⁶Lord, when your people were suffering, they came to you.
    When you punished them,
    they could barely whisper a prayer.
¹⁷Lord, you made us like a woman who is about to have a baby.
    She groans and cries out in pain.
¹⁸We were pregnant and groaned with pain.
    But nothing was born.
We didn’t bring your saving power to the earth.
    And the people of the world have not come to life.