to approach (causatively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
delivery
לָלֶ֔דֶתla.Le.det
H3205
to bear young · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
pain
תָּחִ֥ילta.Chil
H2342
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
out
תִּזְעַ֖קtiz.'Ak
H2199
to shriek (from anguish or danger) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
pangs
בַּחֲבָלֶ֑יהָba.cha.va.Lei.ha
H2256
a rope (as twisted) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
sight
מִפָּנֶ֖יךָmi.pa.Nei.kha
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed…
Isaiah 21:3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hea…
John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more…
Jeremiah 4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter…
1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not…
Psalms 48:6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Jeremiah 30:6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 26:12-19
The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. Observe,
I. His reviews and reflections are mixed. When he looks back upon the state of the church he finds,
1. That God had in many instances been very gracious to them and had done great things for them. (1.) In general (Isa 26:12): Thou hast wrought all our works in us, or for us. Whatever good work is done by us, it is owing to a good work wrought by the grace of God in us; it is he that puts good thoughts and affections into our hearts if at any time they be there, and that works in us both to wi…
An image of anguish accompanied with expectation, to be followed by joy that will cause the anguish utterly to be forgotten. Zion, looking for deliverance, seemingly in vain, but really about to be gloriously saved (Mic 4:9-13; Mic 5:1-3; Joh 16:21-22).
John Gill on Isaiah 26:17
Like as a woman with child,.... By this simile are set forth the great distresses and afflictions the church of Christ will be in, before redemption and deliverance from the antichristian yoke comes:
that draweth near the time of her delivery; when her burden is great and very troublesome:
is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; for her friends to come about her, and give her all the help and assistance they can:
so have we been in thy sight, O Lord; in great distress and trouble, and crying to him for salvation and deliverance, all which were well known unto him.
John Calvin on Isaiah 26:17
As a woman with child. Here two things ought chiefly to be remarked. First, he compares believers to women in labor, who, we know, endure exquisite pain; and, accordingly, he says that their anguish breaks out into loud and violent cries. Hence we infer that the Prophet does not only speak of that sorrow which arises from outward distresses and annoyances, but rather describes that dreadful anguish by which the hearts of the godly are sorely and dreadfully tormented, when they perceive that God is angry with them, and when their consciences reprove them. There is no bodily pain so acute that it can be compared to that anguish, and this is plainly expressed by the phrase in thy sight
The Church Fathers
(Verse 17,18.) Just as she who conceives, when she approaches childbirth, cries out in her pain: so have we become because of your presence, Lord. We have conceived and, as it were, given birth, and brought forth the spirit. LXX: And as a woman in labor draws near to childbirth, in her pain she cries out: so have we become ÷ your beloved, because of your fear, Lord. In the womb we have received, and as if giving birth, we have brought forth the spirit of your salvation, which we have made upon the earth. Just as a woman approaching childbirth is compelled to cry out in pain: thus do we seek you in distress, and from the face of your dread we conceive, and labor, and bring forth, not fleshly children, but spirits: so that with our whole mind we may believe in you, whom we have not experienced through blessings, but through trials. This which the LXX added, thus have we become your beloved; for this reason others have turned away, thus have we become from your face, O Lord, a mark to be noted. However, we can receive the beloved of the Lord, Christ, because of whose fear we conceive, and bear, and bring forth, and make the spirit of salvation upon the earth. This can also be said by the apostolic man, when he instructs and imitates the peoples like the apostle Paul: My little children, whom I bear again until Christ be formed in you (Galatians IV, 19). Is there any doubt that the apostle Paul made the spirit of salvation upon the earth, who preached the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Romans XV), and like a wise architect, laid the foundation, outside of which no one can lay, which is Christ Jesus (I Corinthians III)? Therefore, whether we read it, O Lord, because of your fear, we received it in the womb; or according to the Hebrew, we conceived it from your face, O Lord, and received it in the womb; both pertain to the fact that we conceive the word of God from the fear and remembrance of the Lord, and our heart is illuminated, saying: The light of your face, O Lord, is signed upon us (Psalm 4:7). And show your face, and we shall be saved (Psalm 79:4). We did not make greetings on earth, therefore the inhabitants of the world did not fall. LXX: We will not fall, but the inhabitants of the earth will fall. A different interpretation is necessary in order to have a different meaning. According to the Hebrew, it is said: Because we have not done anything…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 26:16-18
The tephillâh now returns to the retrospective glance already cast in Isa 26:8, Isa 26:9 into that night of affliction, which preceded the redemption that had come. "Jehovah, in trouble they missed Thee, poured out light supplication when Thy chastisement came upon them. As a woman with child, who draws near to her delivery, writhes and cries out in her pangs, so were we in Thy sight, O Jehovah. We went with child, we writhed; it was as if we brought forth wind. We brought no deliverance to the land, and the inhabitants of the world did not come to the light." The substantive circumstantial clause in the parallel line, למו מוּסר, castigatione tua eos affilgente (ל as in Isa 26:9), correspon…
The imagery of a pregnant woman in childbirth describes the nation’s pain when Assyrian king Sennacherib attacked it in 701 BC (see 37:3).
Rashi on Isaiah 26:17
As a pregnant woman comes near to give birth, etc. So were we because of You; we see troubles being renewed, and we think that they are sorts of indications of salvation and redemption, for we are promised to be redeemed out of straits, as a woman giving birth.
because of You Because of Your decrees.
