Isaiah Chapter 42 verse 14 Holy Bible
I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: `now' will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together.
read chapter 42 in ASV
I have long been quiet, I have kept myself in and done nothing: now I will make sounds of pain like a woman in childbirth, breathing hard and quickly.
read chapter 42 in BBE
Long time have I holden my peace; I have been still, I have restrained myself: I will cry like a woman that travaileth; I will blow and pant at once.
read chapter 42 in DARBY
I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
read chapter 42 in KJV
read chapter 42 in WBT
I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: [now] will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together.
read chapter 42 in WEB
I have kept silent from of old, I keep silent, I refrain myself, As a travailing woman I cry out, I desolate and swallow up together.
read chapter 42 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 14. - I have long time holden my peace; literally, for an eternity. God's love for his people is forcibly expressed by his saying that he has felt it "an eternity" - though it was but some five or six decades - while he was waiting for his chastisement to have such due effect as would allow of his bringing it to an end, and showing them mercy. He has chafed, as it were, under the necessity of inaction, and has with difficulty refrained himself. Now he will refrain no longer. A travailing woman. A woman in her travail, after long endurance, at last gives free vent to her natural feelings, and utters loud cries (compare the preceding verse). I will destroy and devour at once (so Gesenius, Kay, and the ancient versions). But the bulk of modern commentators render, "I will pant and gasp," as does a travailing woman.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(14) I have long time holden my peace . . .--The change of person indicates that Jehovah is the speaker. "Long time," literally, for an age, or an eternity. What is actually meant is the period of the exile, during which, till the advent of the deliverer, there had been no interposition on behalf of Israel. To the exiles this had seemed endless in its weariness. Now there were the travail-pangs of a new birth for the nation. (Comp. Matthew 24:8.) Was it strange that there should be the convulsions and catastrophes which are as the thunder-roaring of the voice of Jehovah?I will destroy and devour.--Better, I pant and gasp. The verbs express strong emotion, the cries of the travailing woman rather than destructive acts.
