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.

Read full chapter

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 we searched for you.
    We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.
17 Just as a pregnant woman
    writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.
18 We, too, writhe in agony,
    but nothing comes of our suffering.
We have not given salvation to the earth,
    nor brought life into the world.
19 But those who die in the Lord will live;
    their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth
    will rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall like dew
    on your people in the place of the dead!

Read full chapter