Isaiah 26:17 (WEB)

Passage

Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, Yahweh.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 26:15 You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

Isaiah 26:16 Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

Isaiah 26:17 Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, Yahweh.

Isaiah 26:18 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.

Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "just", "woman", "child", "draws", "near", "time", "delivery", and "pain". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "just" and "woman", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Yahweh in trouble they have visited you..." into verse 18's "We have been with child We have...", so "just" and "woman" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "just" and "woman" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.