Isaiah 38:14

Geneva Bible

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourne as a doue: mine eies were lift vp on high: O Lord, it hath oppressed me, comfort me.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I chirp like a swallow or a crane;I moan like a dove.My eyes grow weak looking upward.Lord, I am oppressed; support me.

Hebrew Names Version
Like a swallow [or] a crane, so did I chatter; I did moan as a dove; my eyes fail [with looking] upward: Lord, I am oppressed, be my collateral.

King James Version
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord , I am oppressed; undertake for me.

English Standard Version
Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!

New American Standard Bible
"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

New Century Version
I cried like a bird and moaned like a dove. My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens. Lord, I have troubles. Please help me."

Amplified Bible
"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I chirp; I coo like a dove. My eyes look wistfully upward; O Lord, I am oppressed, take my side and be my security.

World English Bible
Like a swallow [or] a crane, so did I chatter; I did moan as a dove; my eyes fail [with looking] upward: Lord, I am oppressed, be my collateral.

Legacy Standard Bible
Like a swallow, like a crane, so I chirped;I moan like a dove;My eyes look wistfully to the heights;O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

Berean Standard Bible
I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.

Contemporary English Version
I cry like a swallow; I mourn like a dove. My eyes are red from looking to you, Lord . I am terribly abused. Please come and help me.

Complete Jewish Bible
I make little chattering sounds like a swallow, I moan aloud like a dove, My eyes are weary with looking upward. Adonai, I am overwhelmed; guarantee my life!'

Darby Translation
Like a swallow [or] a crane, so did I chatter; I mourned as a dove; mine eyes failed [with looking] upward: Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

Easy-to-Read Version
I cried like a bird and moaned like a dove. My eyes became tired, but I continued looking to the heavens. Lord, I am so depressed. Promise to help me."

George Lamsa Translation
What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it, and has caused my sleep to flee because of the bitterness of my soul;

Good News Translation
My voice was thin and weak, And I moaned like a dove. My eyes grew tired from looking to heaven. Lord , rescue me from all this trouble.

Lexham English Bible
Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!

Literal Translation
Like a swift or a crane, so I chatter. I moan as the dove; my eyes look weakly to the heights, O Jehovah; it presses me down; be surety for me!

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then chatred I like a swalowe, and like a Crane, and mourned as a doue. I lift vp myne eyes in to ye hight: O LORDE, (sayde I) violence is done vnto me, be thou suertie for me.

American Standard Version
Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter; I did moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed, be thou my surety.

Bible in Basic English
I make cries like a bird; I give out sounds of grief like a dove: my eyes are looking up with desire; O Lord, I am crushed, take up my cause.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.

King James Version (1611)
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourne as a doue: mine eyes faile with looking vpward: O Lord, I am oppressed, vndertake for me.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then chattered I lyke a swallowe, and lyke a crane, and mourned lyke a doue, I lift vp mine eyes into the heyght: O Lorde [sayde I] my sicknesse kepeth me downe, ease thou me.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
As a swallow, so will I cry, and as a dove, so do I mourn: for mine eyes have failed with looking to the height of heaven to the Lord, who has delivered me, and removed the sorrow of my soul.

English Revised Version
Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward; O LORD, I am oppressed, be thou my surety.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y schal bithenke as a culuer. Myn iyen biholdynge an hiy, ben maad feble. Lord, Y suffre violence, answere thou for me; what schal Y seie,

Update Bible Version
Like a swallow [or] a crane, so I chattered; I moaned as a dove; my eyes fail [with looking] upward: O Lord, I am oppressed, be my surety.

Webster's Bible Translation
Like a crane [or] a swallow, so I chattered: I mourned as a dove: my eyes fail [with looking] upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

New English Translation
Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me!

New King James Version
Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered;I mourned like a dove;My eyes fail from looking upward.O Lord, [fn] I am oppressed;Undertake for me!

New Living Translation
Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!"

New Life Bible
I make noise like the birds. I cry like a dove. My eyes are tired from looking up. O Lord, I am having a hard time. Keep me safe.

New Revised Standard
Like a swallow or a crane I clamor, I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As a twittering swallow, so, do I chatter, I coo as a dove, - Mine eyes languish through looking on high, O My Lord! distress is upon me - my Surety!

Douay-Rheims Bible
I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me.

Revised Standard Version
Like a swallow or a crane I clamor, I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be thou my security!

Young's Literal Translation
As a crane -- a swallow -- so I chatter, I mourn as a dove, Drawn up have been mine eyes on high, O Jehovah, oppression [is] on me, be my surety.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

Contextual Overview

⁹ The writing of Hezekiah King of Iudah, when he had bene sicke, and was recouered of his sickenesse. ¹⁰ I saide in the cutting off of my dayes, I shall goe to the gates of the graue: I am depriued of the residue of my yeeres. ¹¹ I said, I shall not see the Lord, euen the Lord in the land of the liuing: I shall see man no more among the inhabitants of the world. ¹² Mine habitation is departed, and is remoued from me, like a shepheards tent: I haue cut off like a weauer my life: he will cut me off from the height: from day to night, thou wilt make an ende of me. ¹³ I rekoned to the morning: but he brake all my bones, like a lion: from day to night wilt thou make an ende of me. ¹⁴ Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourne as a doue: mine eies were lift vp on high: O Lord, it hath oppressed me, comfort me. ¹⁵ What shall I say? for he hath said it to me, and he hath done it: I shall walke weakely all my yeeres in the bitternesse of my soule. ¹⁶ O Lord, to them that ouerliue them, and to all that are in them, the life of my spirite shalbe knowen, that thou causedst me to sleepe and hast giuen life to me. ¹⁷ Beholde, for felicitie I had bitter griefe, but it was thy pleasure to deliuer my soule from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sinnes behinde thy backe. ¹⁸ For the graue cannot confesse thee: death cannot praise thee: they that goe downe into the pit, cannot hope for thy trueth.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a crane: Job 30:29, Psalms 102:4-7

I did mourn: Isaiah 59:11, Ezekiel 7:16, Nahum 2:7

mine eyes: Psalms 69:3, Psalms 119:82, Psalms 119:123, Psalms 123:1-4, Lamentations 4:17

I am: Psalms 119:122, Psalms 143:7

undertake for me: or, ease me

Reciprocal: Leviticus 14:22 - two turtle doves Deuteronomy 28:32 - fail 2 Kings 20:3 - wept sore Job 31:16 - the eyes Psalms 38:6 - mourning Psalms 55:2 - I mourn Psalms 102:6 - like Jeremiah 20:12 - for Lamentations 1:20 - Behold Lamentations 2:11 - eyes Lamentations 5:17 - our eyes Matthew 5:4 - General John 17:1 - and lifted

Cross-References

Genesis 24:65
(For shee had sayde to the seruant, Who is yonder man, that commeth in the fielde to meete vs? and the seruant had said, It is my master) So she tooke a vaile, and couered her.

Genesis 38:11
Then said Iudah to Tamar his daughter in lawe, Remaine a widowe in thy fathers house, till Shelah my sonne growe vp (for he thought thus, Least he die as well as his brethren.) So Tamar went and dwelt in her fathers house.

Genesis 38:13
And it was tolde Tamar, saying, beholde, thy father in lawe goeth vp to Timnah, to shere his sheepe.

Genesis 38:26
Then Iudah knewe them, and said, She is more righteous then I: for she hath done it because I gaue her not to Shelah my sonne. So he lay with her no more.

Proverbs 7:12
Nowe she is without, nowe in the streetes, and lyeth in waite at euery corner)

Jeremiah 3:2
Lift vp thine eyes vnto the hie places, and beholde, where thou hast not plaied the harlot: thou hast sit waiting for them in the waies, as the Arabian in the wildernesse: and thou hast polluted the lande with thy whoredomes, and with thy malice.

Ezekiel 16:25
Thou hast built thine hie place at euery corner of the way, and hast made thy beautie to be abhorred: thou hast opened thy feete to euery one that passed by, & multiplied thy whoredome.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Like a crane, or a swallow, so did I chatter,.... Rather, "like a crane and a swallow", like both; sometimes loud and clamorous, like a crane o, when the pain was very acute and grievous; and sometimes very low, through weakness of body, like the twittering of a swallow; or the moan he made under his affliction was like the mournful voices of these birds at certain times. Some think he refers to his prayers, which were quick and short, and expressed not with articulate words, but in groans and cries; at least were not regular and orderly, but interrupted, and scarce intelligible, like the chattering of the birds mentioned:

I did mourn as a dove; silently and patiently, within himself, for his sins and transgressions; and because of his afflictions, the fruit of them:

mine eyes fail with looking upwards; or, "on high"; or, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions express it, "to the height of heaven"; to the Lord there, whose Shechinah, as the Targum, is in the highest heavens: in his distress he looked up to heaven for help, but none came; he looked and waited till his eyes were weak with looking, and he could look no longer; both his eyes and his heart failed him, and he despaired of relief; and the prayer he put up was as follows:

O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me; or, "it oppresseth me p"; that is, the disease; it lay so heavy upon him, it bore him down with the weight of it, he could not stand up under it; it had seized him, and crushed him; it held him fast, and he could not get clear of it; and therefore entreats the Lord to "undertake" for him, to be his surety for good, as in Psalms 119:122, he represents his disease as a bailiff that had arrested him, and was carrying him to the prison of the grave; and therefore prays that the Lord would bail him, or rescue him out of his hands, that he might not go down to the gates of the grave. So souls oppressed with the guilt of sin, and having fearful apprehensions of divine justice, should apply to Christ their surety, and take refuge in his undertakings, where only peace and safety are to be enjoyed. So Gussetius renders the words, "I have unrighteousness, be surety for me" q; and takes them to be a confession of Hezekiah, acknowledging himself guilty of unrighteousness, praying and looking to Christ the Son of God, and to his suretyship engagements, who, though not yet come to fulfil them, certainly would.

o So it is said in the Talmud, "Resh-Lakish cried like a crane", T. Bab. Kiddushin, col. 42. 1. p "Opprimit me, [sub.]infirmitas, vel morbus", Munster. q עשקה לי "[njustitia est mihi] hoc est, habeo injustitiam, reus suro injustitia, [sponde pro me]", Ebr. Comment, p. 654.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Like a crane - The word used here (סוּס sûs) usually denotes a horse. The rabbis render it here ‘a crane.’ Gesenius translates it ‘a swallow;’ and in his Lexicon interprets the word which is translated ‘a swallow’ (עגוּר 'āgûr) to mean “circling,” making gyrations; and the whole phrase, ‘as the circling swallow.’ The Syriac renders this, ‘As the chattering swallow.’ The Vulgate, ‘As the young of the swallow.’ The Septuagint simply reads: ‘As the swallow.’ That two birds are intended here, or that some fowl is denoted by the word עגוּר 'āgûr, is manifest from Jeremiah 8:7, where it is mentioned as distinct from the סוּס sûs (the crane) ועגוּר וסוּס v^esûs v^e‛āgûr. On the meaning of the words Bochart may be consulted (Hieroz. i. 2. p. 602). It is probable that the swallow and the crane are intended. The swallow is well known, and is remarkable for its twittering. The crane is also a well-known bird with long limbs made to go in the water. Its noise may be expressive of grief.

So did I chatter - Peep, or twitter (see the note at Isaiah 8:19). The idea here is doubtless that of pain that was expressed in sounds resembling that made by birds - a broken, unmeaning unintelligible sighing; or quick breathing, and moaning.

I did mourn as a dove - The dove, from its plaintive sound, is an emblem of grief. It is so used in Isaiah 59:11. The idea is that of the lonely or solitary dove that is lamenting or mourning for its companion:

‘Just as the lonely dove laments its mate.’

Mine eyes fail - The word used here (דלוּ dâllû) means properly to hang down, to swing like the branches of the willow; then to be languid, feeble, weak. Applied to the eye, it means that it languishes and becomes weak.

With looking upward - To God, for relief and comfort. He had looked so long and so intensely toward heaven for aid, that his eyes became weak and feeble.

O Lord, I am oppressed - This was his language in his affliction. He was so oppressed and borne down, that he cried to God for relief.

Undertake for me - Margin, ‘Ease me.’ The word (ערב ‛ârab) more properly means, to become surety for him. See it explained in the the note at Isaiah 36:8. Here it means, be surety for my life; give assurance that I shall be restored; take me under thy protection (see Psalms 119:122): ‘Be surety for thy servant for good.’

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 38:14. Like-a swallow - "Like the swallow"] כסיס kesis; so read two MSS., Theodot., and Hieron.

Mine eyes fail — For דלו dallu the Septuagint read כלו calu, εξελιπον. Compare Psalms 69:4; Psalms 119:82; Psalms 119:123; Lamentations 2:11; Lamentations 4:17, in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint.

O LORD - "O Lord"] For יהוה Jehovah, thirty MSS. and eight editions read אדני Adonai.

Undertake for me - "Contend for me"] עשקה ashekah, with ש shin, Jarchi: this sense of the word is established by Genesis 26:20: "He called the name of the well עשק esek, because they strove with him:" התעשקו hithasseku, equivalent to יריבו yaribu, at the beginning of the verse.