Isaiah 38:14

Literal Standard Version

As a crane—a swallow—so I chatter, || I mourn as a dove, || My eyes have been drawn up on high, || O YHWH, oppression [is] on me, be my guarantor.

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 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

⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick when he revives from his sickness: ¹⁰"I said in the cutting off of my days, || I go to the gates of Sheol, || I have numbered the remnant of my years. ¹¹I said, I do not see YAH—YAH! In the land of the living, || I do not behold man anymore, || With the inhabitants of the world. ¹²My sojourning has departed, || And been removed from me as a shepherd's tent, || I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, || By weakness it cuts me off, || From day to night You end me. ¹³I have set [Him] as a lion until morning, || So He breaks all my bones, || From day to night You end me. ¹⁴As a crane—a swallow—so I chatter, || I mourn as a dove, || My eyes have been drawn up on high, || O YHWH, oppression [is] on me, be my guarantor.¹⁵What do I say? Seeing He spoke to me, || And He Himself has worked, || I go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul. ¹⁶Lord, [men] live by these, || And by all in them [is] the life of my spirit, || And You save me, make me to also live, ¹⁷Behold, He changed bitterness to peace for me, || And You have delighted in my soul without corruption, || For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. ¹⁸For Sheol does not confess You, || Death does not praise You, || Those going down to the pit do not hope for Your truth.

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
and she says to the servant, "Who [is] this man who is walking in the field to meet us?" And the servant says, "It [is] my lord"; and she takes the veil, and covers herself.

Genesis 38:11
And Judah says to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Abide [as] a widow at your father's house, until my son Shelah grows up"; for he said, "Lest he die—even he—like his brothers"; and Tamar goes and dwells at her father's house.

Genesis 38:13
And it is declared to Tamar, saying, "Behold, your husband's father is going up to Timnath to shear his flock";

Genesis 38:26
And Judah discerns and says, "She has been more righteous than I, because that I did not give her to my son Shelah"; and he has not added to know her again.

Proverbs 7:12
Now in an out-place, now in broad places, || And she lies in wait near every corner)—

Jeremiah 3:2
"Lift your eyes to the high places, and see, || Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them on the ways, || As an Arab in a wilderness, || And you defile the land, || By your fornications, and by your wickedness.

Ezekiel 16:25
At every head of the way you have built your high place, || And you make your beauty abominable, || And open wide your feet to everyone passing by, || And multiply your whoredoms,

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.