Isaiah 26:18

18 We have conceived, we have had birth pangs; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any health in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

Isaiah 26:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 26:18

We have been with child
Like women with child; we have been full of hopes and expectations of great things, of deliverance from our enemies, and of the kingdom of Christ being at hand: we have been in pain;
in great distress and anxiety, and in fervent and frequent prayer, travailing in birth, which we looked upon as forerunners of a happy issue of things: we have as it were brought forth wind;
all our hopes have proved abortive, and we have been disappointed in our expectations: we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth:
or, "salvations" have "not been wrought in the earth" ^F6; this explains what is meant by bringing forth wind; salvation and deliverance out of the hand of the enemy not being wrought, as was expected: neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen;
worldly men, the great men, the kings of the earth; particularly such as commit fornication with the whore of Rome, Popish persecuting princes; these as yet are not fallen, though they shall in the battle of Armageddon.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (Ura hven lb twewvy) "res salutum non est facta", Vatablus; "salates non fit terra", Montanus; "salutes non factae sunt terrae", Tigurine version; "non sunt factae in terra", Pagninus.

Isaiah 26:18 In-Context

16 LORD, in the tribulation they have sought thee, they poured out prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17 Like as a woman with child, that draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

18 We have conceived, we have had birth pangs; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any health in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 Thy dead shall live, and together with my body they shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the covering of light, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is overpast.