Isaiah 26:18
We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
God's provision of salvation forms the setting of chapters 25-26, and within that setting the confession of fruitless travail belongs with the blessing of pardon and the removal of sins through free access to grace. Human effort by itself cannot work any deliverance in the earth. Its pain and labor, though real, produce only wind. True rescue comes not from what people accomplish but from receiving the grace freely opened to take away sin.