Isaiah 26:16

16 O LORD, the people have come to you in trouble. They were humbled by oppression, by your discipline upon them.

Isaiah 26:16 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 26:16

Lord, in trouble have they visited thee
This, and the two following verses ( Isaiah 26:17 Isaiah 26:18 ) , represent the troubles and disappointments of the church and people of God, before the destruction of antichrist; in which time of trouble they will visit the Lord, frequent the throne of grace, as saints in afflictions are wont to do; and sometimes this is the end to be answered by afflictions, ( Hosea 5:15 ) : they poured out a prayer;
or "muttering" ^F5; they will pray with a low voice, in an humble and submissive way, as persons in dejected circumstances; not a few words, but many, will they use; their petitions will be numerous; they will continue praying, and be constant at it, and out of the abundance of their hearts their mouth will speak; and they will pour out their souls and their complaints to the Lord, though privately, and with a low voice, and with groans unutterable: [when] thy chastening [was] upon them;
the afflicting hand of God, not as a punishment, but as a fatherly chastisement upon them; so all their persecutions from men are considered as permitted by the Lord for their instruction and correction; and these will not drive them from God, but bring them to him to seek him by prayer and supplication.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (vxl) "mussitationem", Montanus; "submissam orationem", Junius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 26:16 In-Context

14 The wicked are dead. They are no longer alive. The spirits of the dead won't rise. You have punished them, destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.

15 You have expanded the nation, O LORD. You have expanded the nation. You are honored. You have extended all the land's boundaries.

16 O LORD, the people have come to you in trouble. They were humbled by oppression, by your discipline upon them.

17 O LORD, when we are with you, we are like pregnant women ready to give birth. They writhe and cry out in their labor pains.

18 We were pregnant; we writhed with labor pains only to give birth to the wind. We weren't able to bring salvation to the land, and no new people were born on earth.