Isaiah 26:13-19

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.

19But Lord, your people who have died will live again. Their bodies will rise up from their graves. You people who live in the ground, wake up! Shout because you are happy. You bring new life to the earth, like dew that comes in the morning. Dead people will come up from the earth and they will live again.