New English Translation
Isaiah 26:16
16O Lord, in distress they looked for you; they uttered incantations because of your discipline.
Isaiah 26:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
- New International Version (NIV)Lord, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.
- English Standard Version (ESV)O Lord, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Lord, in trouble they have visited You, They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
Context of Isaiah 26:16
14The dead do not come back to life, the spirits of the dead do not rise. That is because you came in judgment and destroyed them, you wiped out all memory of them. 15You have made the nation larger, O Lord, you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, you have extended all the borders of the land. O Lord, in distress they looked for you; they uttered incantations because of your discipline. 17As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord. 18We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born.
Read all of Isaiah 26Isaiah 26:16 word by word
יְהוָ֖ה בַּצַּ֣ר פְּקָד֑וּךָ צָק֣וּן לַ֔חַשׁ מוּסָרְךָ֖ לָֽמוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 26:16
- Deuteronomy 4:29But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul.
- Judges 10:9The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight with Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel suffered greatly.
- 2 Chronicles 6:37When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray, we have done evil!’
- 2 Chronicles 33:12In his pain Manasseh asked the Lord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.
- Psalms 50:15Pray to me when you are in trouble! I will deliver you, and you will honor me!”
- Psalms 77:1I will cry out to God and call for help! I will cry out to God and he will pay attention to me.
- Psalms 91:15When he calls out to me, I will answer him. I will be with him when he is in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him honor.
- Jeremiah 22:23You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.
- Hosea 5:15Then I will return again to my lair until they have suffered their punishment. Then they will seek me; in their distress they will earnestly seek me.
- Hosea 7:14They do not pray to me, but howl in distress on their beds; They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from me.
- Revelation 3:19All those I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!
- 1 Samuel 1:15But Hannah replied, “That’s not the way it is, my lord! I am under a great deal of stress. I have drunk neither wine nor beer. Rather, I have poured out my soul to the Lord.
- Psalms 42:4I will remember and weep! For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.
- Psalms 142:2I pour out my lament before him; I tell him about my troubles.
- Lamentations 2:19Get up! Cry out in the night when the night watches start! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands to him for your children’s lives; they are fainting at every street corner. ר (Resh)
Commentaries on Isaiah 26:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Lord, in trouble have they visited thee "O Jehovah, in affliction we have sought thee" - So the Septuagint and two MSS. have פקדנוך pekadnucha, in the first person plural. And so perhaps it should be צקנו tsaknu, in the first person; but how the Septuagint read this word is not clear; and this last member of the verse is extremely obscure. For למו lamo, "on them," the Septuagint read לנו lanu, "on us," in the first person likewise; a frequent mistake; see…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Poured out a prayer - Margin, Secret speech.‘ The Hebrew word לחשׁ lachash means properly a whispering, muttering; and thru a sighing, a calling for help. This is the sense here. In their calamity they sighed, and called on God for help.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-19Verses 12-19 Every creature, every business, any way serviceable to our comfort, God makes to be so; he makes that work for us which seemed to make against us. They had been slaves of sin and Satan; but by the Divine grace they were taught to look to be set free from all former masters. The cause opposed to God and his kingdom will sink at last. See our need of afflictions. Before, prayer came drop by drop; now they pour it out, it comes now like water…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16While waiting for God's salvation (Isaiah 26:1), the faithful were in distress and longed for justice. They prayed under the weight of God's discipline. During Hezekiah's time, Judah was in distress when Sennacherib attacked and destroyed the entire nation except for Jerusalem.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. visited--sought. poured out--(Psa 62:8), as a vessel emptying out all its contents. prayer--literally, "a whispered prayer," Margin, "a secret sighing" to God for help (compare Jr 13:17; De 8:16).Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 26:16
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 26
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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