Isaiah 26:18
◄  Isaiah 26:18  ►
New International Version (©2011)
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.

New Living Translation (©2007)
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.

English Standard Version (©2001)
we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
We were pregnant, we writhed in labor, We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth, Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
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.

International Standard Version (©2012)
We were pregnant, writhing in pain, but we gave birth only to wind. We have not won your victory on earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world been born."

NET Bible (©2006)
We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
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.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were given birth to wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

American King James Version
We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

American Standard Version
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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

Darby Bible Translation
We have been with child, we have been in travail, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought the deliverance of the land, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

English Revised Version
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.

Webster's Bible Translation
We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance on the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

World English Bible
We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

Young's Literal Translation
We have conceived, we have been pained. We have brought forth as it were wind, Salvation we do not work in the earth, Nor do the inhabitants of the world fall.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:12-19 Every creature, every business, any way serviceable to our comfort, God makes to be so; he makes that work for us which seemed to make against us. They had been slaves of sin and Satan; but by the Divine grace they were taught to look to be set free from all former masters. The cause opposed to God and his kingdom will sink at last. See our need of afflictions. Before, prayer came drop by drop; now they pour it out, it comes now like water from a fountain. Afflictions bring us to secret prayer. Consider Christ as the Speaker addressing his church. His resurrection from the dead was an earnest of all the deliverance foretold. The power of his grace, like the dew or rain, which causes the herbs that seem dead to revive, would raise his church from the lowest state. But we may refer to the resurrection of the dead, especially of those united to Christ.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - We have as it were brought forth wind. Our pains have been idle, futile - have effected nothing. We have not given deliverance (literally, "salvation") to our land; we have not effected the downfall of our heathen enemies. That downfall was God's work (Isaiah 24:16-20).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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" (f); 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.

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

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. brought forth wind—Michaelis explains this of the disease empneumatosis. Rather, "wind" is a figure for that which proves an abortive effort. The "we" is in antithesis to "Thy," "my" (Isa 26:19), what we vainly attempt, God will accomplish.

not wrought … deliverance in … earth—literally, "the land (Judea) is not made security," that is, is not become a place of security from our enemies.

neither … world fallen—The "world" at large, is in antithesis to "the earth," that is, Judea. The world at enmity with the city of God has not been subdued. But Maurer explains "fallen," according to Arabic idiom, of the birth of a child, which is said to fall when being born; "inhabitants of the world (Israel, Isa 24:4; not the world in general) are not yet born"; that is, the country as yet lies desolate, and is not yet populated.

Isaiah 26:18 Parallel Commentaries

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Song of Trust in God's Provision
…17Like 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 your sight, O LORD. 18We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. …

Psalm 17:14 By your hand save me from such people, LORD, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.
Isaiah 33:11 You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
Isaiah 37:3 They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.
Isaiah 59:4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.