Isaiah 26:18
We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
We have been with child,.... Like women with child; We have been full of hopes and expectations of great things, of deliverance from our enemies, and of the kingdom of Christ being at hand:
We have been in pain; in great distress and anxiety, and in fervent and frequent prayer, travailing in birth, which we looked upon as forerunners of a happy issue of things:
we have as it were brought forth wind; all our hopes have proved abortive, and We have been disappointed in our expectations:
we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth: or, "salvations" have "not been wrought in the earth" {f}; this explains what is meant by bringing forth wind; salvation and deliverance out of the hand of the enemy not being wrought, as was expected:
neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen; worldly men, the great men, the kings of the earth; particularly such as commit fornication with the whore of Rome, Popish persecuting princes; these as yet are not fallen, though they shall in the battle of Armageddon.
{f} Ura hven lb twewvy "res salutum non est facta", Vatablus; "salates non fit terra", Montanus; "salutes non factae sunt terrae", Tigurine version; "non sunt factae in terra", Pagninus.