Isaiah 26:11-18

11Lord, you are ready to punish them, but they do not realize that. Make them see that you love your own people. Then they will become ashamed. In your anger, punish them with fire, as your enemies deserve.

12Lord, you will give us peace. Everything that we have done, you have done on our behalf.

13Lord, our God, other lords have ruled over us. But you are the only one that we worship.

14Those other lords are dead. They will not live again. Their spirits will not rise up again. You punished them and you destroyed them. Nobody remembers them any more.

15Lord, you have made our nation larger. You have made our nation larger and you have shown how great you are. You have made all the borders of our land grow bigger.

16Lord, when your people had trouble, they came to you for help. When you punished them, they turned to you and they prayed.

17Because of your punishment, Lord, we had much pain. We were like a woman who is giving birth and she cries out with pain.

18Yes, it seemed like we were pregnant and ready to give birth. But we could only give birth to wind! We could not do anything to make the land safe. We have no descendants who will bring new life to the world.