Isaiah 26:18

18 We were pregnant. We groaned with pain. But nothing was born. We didn't bring your saving power to the earth. We didn't give life to the people of the world.

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.


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, when your people were suffering, they came to you. When you punished them, they could barely whisper a prayer.
17 Lord, you made us like a woman who is having a baby. She groans and cries out in pain.
18 We were pregnant. We groaned with pain. But nothing was born. We didn't bring your saving power to the earth. We didn't give life to the people of the world.
19 Israel, those among you who have died will live again. Their bodies will rise from the dead. You who lie in the grave, wake up and shout with joy. The dew of the morning gives life to the earth. So the earth will give up its dead people.
20 My people, go into your houses. Shut the doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while. Do it until the LORD's anger is over.
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