¹⁶ O Lord, ^(A)in distress they sought you;
    they poured out a whispered prayer
    when your discipline was upon them.
^17 (B)Like a pregnant woman
    who writhes and cries out in her pangs
    when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
^{18     (C)}we were pregnant, we writhed,
    but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
    and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.