Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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New Living Translation

Isaiah 38:14

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!"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Crane;   Hezekiah;   Murmuring;   Oppression;   Psalms;   Swallow;   Thompson Chain Reference - Birds;   Swallows;   The Topic Concordance - Life;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Birds;   Dove, the;   Sickness;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Crane;   Swallow;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Hezekiah;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Hope;   Life;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Crane;   Poetry;   Swallow;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Crane;   Hell;   Nahum (2);   Peep;   Poetry;   Prayer;   Suretiship;   Swallow;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Crane;   Hezekiah;   Isaiah;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Life;   Meditation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Crane;   Death;   Isaiah, Book of;   Psalms;   Swallow;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Hymn;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Crane;   Swallow;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Hezekiah;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Ararat;   Crane;   Hezekiah;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Dove;   Swallow;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Crane;   Dove (turtle);   Swallow;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Crane;   Swallows;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Chatter;   Crane;   Dove;   Hezekiah (2);   Isaiah;   Mutter;   Papyrus;   Psalms, Book of;   Surety;   Swallow;   Undertake;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Birds;   Crane;   Eye;   Hezekiah;   Poetry;   Swallow;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for March 19;  

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.
Geneva Bible (1587)
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.
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 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 When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem: 10 I said, "In the prime of my life, must I now enter the place of the dead? Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?" 11 I said, "Never again will I see the Lord God while still in the land of the living. Never again will I see my friends or be with those who live in this world. 12 My life has been blown away like a shepherd's tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over. 13 I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over. 14 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!" 15 But what could I say? For he himself sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt. 16 Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You restore my health and allow me to live! 17 Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins. 18 For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness.

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
"Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?" she asked the servant. And he replied, "It is my master." So Rebekah covered her face with her veil.
Genesis 38:11
Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Go back to your parents' home and remain a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to marry you." (But Judah didn't really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went back to live in her father's home.
Genesis 38:13
Someone told Tamar, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."
Genesis 38:26
Judah recognized them immediately and said, "She is more righteous than I am, because I didn't arrange for her to marry my son Shelah." And Judah never slept with Tamar again.
Proverbs 7:12
She is often in the streets and markets, soliciting at every corner.
Jeremiah 3:2
"Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.
Ezekiel 16:25
On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.

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 vesûs ve‛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.


 
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