O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.
- KJV LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
- NKJV Lord, in trouble they have visited You, They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
- NASB Lord, they sought You in distress; They could only whisper a prayer, Your discipline was upon them.
- NLT Lord, in distress we searched for you. We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In their distress and discipline the people turned to God in prayer, showing affliction can drive us to seek Him.
Overview
The verse confesses that it was in trouble and under God's chastening that the people sought Him, pouring out whispered prayer. Hardship is portrayed as God's fatherly discipline meant to turn His people back to Himself. This reflects the gospel pattern that God uses affliction to draw sinners to dependence on Him rather than self.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Hos 5:15Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
- Ps 50:15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- Ps 91:15When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.
- Rev 3:19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- 2 Chr 33:12–13And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
- Lam 2:19Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.
- Ps 42:4These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.
- 2 Chr 6:37–38and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’
- 1 Sam 1:15“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.
- Isa 37:3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- Judg 10:9–10The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress.
- Ps 77:1–2For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me.
- Ps 142:2I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
- Deut 4:29–30But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Hos 7:14They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
- Jer 22:23O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 26:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.