Isaiah 26:16-18

New Century Version

¹⁶ Lord, people remember you when they are in trouble;
    they say quiet prayers to you when you punish them.
¹⁷ Lord, when we are with you,
    we are like a woman giving birth to a baby;
    she cries and has pain from the birth.
¹⁸ In the same way, we had pain.
    We gave birth, but only to wind.
We don’t bring salvation to the land
    or make new people for the world.