Isaiah 26:18
Good News Translation
We were in pain and agony, but we gave birth to nothing. We have won no victory for our land; we have accomplished nothing.

New Revised Standard Version
we were with child, we writhed, but we gave birth only to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and no one is born to inhabit the world.

Contemporary English Version
But instead of having a child, our terrible pain produced only wind. We have won no victories, and we have no descendants to take over the earth.

New American Bible
We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth only to wind; Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, no inhabitants for the world were born.

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.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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.

we have been in

Isaiah 37:3 And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

2 Kings 19:3 And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength.

Hosea 13:13 The sorrows of a woman in labour shall come upon him, he is an unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.

we have not

Exodus 5:22,23 And Moses returned to the Lord, and said: Lord, why hast thou afflicted this people? wherefore hast thou sent me? . . .

Joshua 7:7-9 And Joshua said: Alas, O Lord God, why wouldst thou bring this people over the river Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and to destroy us? would God we had stayed beyond the Jordan, as we began. . . .

1 Samuel 11:13 And Saul said: No man shall be killed this day: because the Lord this day hath wrought salvation in Israel:

1 Samuel 14:45 And the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan then die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? this must not be: As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, that he should not die.

the inhabitants

Psalm 17:14 From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you: but me it hateth, because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil,

1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God and the whole world is seated in wickedness.

Context
A Song of Trust in God's Provision
17As 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. 18We 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.19Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.…
Cross References
Psalm 17:14
From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.

Isaiah 33:11
You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath as fire shall devour you.

Isaiah 37:3
And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

Isaiah 59:4
There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.

Isaiah 26:17
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