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16 Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you.
    They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.
17 Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery,
    is in pain and cries out in her pangs,
    so we have been before you, Yahweh.
18 We have been with child.
    We have been in pain.
We gave birth, it seems, only to wind.
    We have not worked any deliverance in the earth;
    neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Your dead shall live.
    My dead bodies shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;
    for your dew is like the dew of herbs,
    and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

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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.

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