Isaiah 42:14

I have long time holden my peace Lit. "I have been silent from of old." The period of silence perhaps goes back further than the Exile; it is the time during which Jehovah has permitted the oppression of His people by the heathen.

I have been still Lit. "been dumb"; but "still" expresses the idea better; it is abstinence from action, not from speech, that is meant.

refrained myself Cf. Genesis 43:31; Genesis 45:1.

now will I cry out] The verb does not recur in the O.T. In Aramaic it is used of the bleating of sheep. Here it denotes the convulsive utterance of uncontrollable emotion, "like a travailing woman."

destroy and devour at once Render with R.V. gasp and pant together; "together" uniting the threeideas.