Isaiah 26:14-18

New Century Version

¹⁴ Those masters are now dead;
    their ghosts will not rise from death.
You punished and destroyed them
    and erased any memory of them.
¹⁵ Lord, you multiplied the number of your people;
    you multiplied them and brought honor to yourself.
You made the borders of the land wide.
¹⁶ Lord, people remember you when they are in trouble;
    they say quiet prayers to you when you punish them.
¹⁷ Lord, when we are with you,
    we are like a woman giving birth to a baby;
    she cries and has pain from the birth.
¹⁸ In the same way, we had pain.
    We gave birth, but only to wind.
We don’t bring salvation to the land
    or make new people for the world.