John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 26:16

"Jehovah, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer [when] thy chastening was upon them." — Isaiah 26:16 (ASV)

O Jehovah, in tribulation they have visited thee. This might be explained as relating to hypocrites, who never flee to God except when they have been constrained by distresses and afflictions. But since the Lord also instructs believers by chastisements, as the Prophet formerly showed (Isaiah 26:8–9), I choose rather to refer it simply to them. This is so that they may not only know that God has justly punished them, but also that the bitterness of the afflictions may be sweetened by the good result of the chastisement, and that they may be better instructed in the fear of the Lord and may profit more and more every day.

Isaiah therefore speaks in the person of the Church, so that whenever godly people read this statement, they might acknowledge that amidst their distresses and afflictions they were nearer to God than when they enjoyed prosperity, through which almost always (such is the depravity of our nature) we become excessively proud and insolent.

For this reason, we must be curbed and tamed by chastisements. This thought will soften the harshness of punishments and make us less ready to shrink from them if we think that they are profitable to us.

They poured out a prayer. The Hebrew word לחש (lăchăsh) signifies a muttering. This word, therefore, must not be taken for a prayer pronounced in words, but for that which indicates that the heart is wrung with severe pains, as those who are tortured by extreme anguish can hardly speak or express the feelings of their hearts.

It therefore denotes a calling upon God that is sincere and free from all hypocrisy; the kind that people offer when, in severe affliction, they utter groans expressive of intense pain. In prosperity, people speak with open mouths; but when they are cast down by adversity, they hardly venture to mutter, expressing their feelings with the heart rather than with the tongue.

From this arise those unutterable groans of which Paul speaks (Romans 8:26). Therefore, it is in reference to the godly that Paul makes this declaration, and this doctrine must be limited to them. For wicked people, although some lamentations are forced from them by pain, become more hardened and increasingly obstinate and rebellious.