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 Lord, in distress they sought you out;
    they poured out prayers to you when you disciplined them.
17 As a pregnant woman close to childbirth is in labor pains,
    crying out in her pangs,
    so were we because of you, Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we writhed,
but we gave birth to wind.
We have achieved no victories on earth;
    the inhabitants of the earth never fall.

19 Your dead will live, their[a] corpses will rise,
    and those who dwell in the dust will shout for joy.
Your shadow is a shadow of light,
    but you will bring down the ghosts into the underworld.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:19 Or my