Isaiah 26:16

16 Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with 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 Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.

15 Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.

16 Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.

17 As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.

18 We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.