26:17 As 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.
26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,
we gave birth, as it were, to wind. 1
We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;
people to populate the world are not born. 2
28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:
“Look, I am laying 3 a stone in Zion,
an approved 4 stone,
set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. 5
The one who maintains his faith will not panic. 6