Isaiah 26:18

We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have had the torment of a woman in child-bearing, but not the comfort of a living child, 1 Thessalonians 16:21, for we have brought forth nothing but wind; all our labours and hopes were vain and unsuccessful. The prophet here represents their deplorable and desperate condition before God appeared so eminently to deliver them. We have not wrought any deliverance; we found that we were utterly unable to deliver ourselves. In the earth; or, in the land, in our own country, where yet we had far greater advantages than we could have had elsewhere. The inhabitants of the world; the Assyrians, or our other enemies; for they are here opposed to God's people.