I have always held my peace, I have I kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once.
Ibn Ezra
I have long time, etc. The first person refers to God. החשתי I have holden my peace. Comp. החשו hold ye your peace (2 Kings 2:3). אתאפק I refrained myself. Comp. להתאפק refrain himself (Gen. 45:1). אפעה Will I cry. Hap. leg. According to some it means viper, and כיולדה אפעה וגוי is explained by them as follows : like one that beareth a viper, so shall I be desolate and sighing at once. אשם I shall be desolate. It is Niphal of a verb ע׳׳ע (שמם). אשאף I shall sigh. Comp. שואף sighing (Eccles. 1:5). אשם Refers to the feeling of the heart, אשאף to the utterance of the mouth. This verse is addressed to those who will assert, that God is unable to help His people.
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.