Isaiah 26:16–18

Lord, they came to you in their distress;

when you disciplined them,

they could barely whisper a prayer.

As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we in your presence, Lord.

We were with child, we writhed in labor,

but we gave birth to wind.

We have not brought salvation to the earth,

and the people of the world have not come to life.

Lord, they went to you in their distress;

they poured out whispered prayers

because your discipline fell on them.

As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pains,

so we were before you, Lord.

We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;

we gave birth to wind.

We have won no victories on earth,

and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

Lord, in distress we searched for you.

We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.

Just as a pregnant woman

writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth,

so were we in your presence, Lord.

We, too, writhe in agony,

but nothing comes of our suffering.

We have not given salvation to the earth,

nor brought life into the world.

Yahweh, in distress they have visited you;

they poured out an incantation;

your discipline was on them.

Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes;

she cries in her labor pains.

So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

We became pregnant, we writhed;

we gave birth to wind.

We cannot bring about deliverance on the earth,

and no inhabitants of the world are born.

Lord, In trouble have they visited thee,

They poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery,

Is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;

So have we been in thy sight, O Lord.

We have been with child, we have been in pain,

We have as it were brought forth wind;

We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;

Neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.