Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageI have kept silent for so long; I have held Myself back and stayed still. But now I will cry out like a woman in labor — gasping and panting all at once!
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GFor a long time I have held My peace; I have been still and restrained Myself. Now, like a woman in labour, I will cry out — I will gasp and pant all at once.
KJV
King James VersionI have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
BSB
Berean Standard Bible“I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.
Footnotes
*Kayoledah* (כַּיּוֹלֵדָה), 'like a woman giving birth,' is one of the most startlingly maternal images of God in the Hebrew Bible. YHWH's prolonged silence is not indifference but volcanic restraint — the hush before eruption. The two verbs *esham* (אֶשֹּׁם — to devastate/pant) and *esh'af* (אֶשְׁאַף — to gasp/swallow) together evoke the full-body intensity of labour. The birthing image deepens the creation-redemption pattern: as YHWH once breathed life into Adam, He now travails to deliver His people. FOG renders both verbs with physical rawness; FOG Message italicises the turn with 'But now' to heighten the dramatic eruption after ages of silence.
