16-18. O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,when your discipline was so heavythey could barely whisper a prayer.Like a woman having a baby,writhing in distress, screaming her painas the baby is being born,That’s how we were because of you, O God.We were pregnant full-term.We writhed in labor but bore no baby.We gave birth to wind.Nothing came of our labor.We produced nothing living.We couldn’t save the world.
19. But friends, your dead will live,your corpses will get to their feet.All you dead and buried,wake up! Sing!Your dew is morning dewcatching the first rays of sun,The earth bursting with life,giving birth to the dead.
20-21. Come, my people, go homeand shut yourselves in.Go into seclusion for a whileuntil the punishing wrath is past,Because God is sure to come from his placeto punish the wrong of the people on earth.Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.