Lexical Summary
nasham: To pant, to gasp
Original Word:נָשַׁם
Part of Speech:Verb
Transliteration:nasham
Pronunciation:nah-SHAHM
Phonetic Spelling:(naw-sham')
KJV: destroy
NASB:gasp
Word Origin:[a primitive root]
1. (properly) to blow away, i.e. destroy
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
destroy
A primitive root; properly, to blow away, i.e. Destroy -- destroy.
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origina prim. root
Definitionto pant
NASB Translationgasp (1).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
[] (Late Hebrew in nouns , , , ; late Aramaic Ithpe`el; Syriac
breathe, blow; Arabic
gently breathe (of wind), etc.; see
seek a thing with labour and perseverance (Lane
3032);
a soul, Lane
ib.); —
pant, of the deep and strong breathing of a woman in travail;
Imperfect1singularIsaiah 42:14.
[] (see Biblical Hebrew, √ ); — suffixDaniel 5:23, i.e. breath of life.
Topical Lexicon
Core Imagery of Intense Breathingנָשַׁם portrays the sudden, forceful exhalation that accompanies extreme strain or anguish. InIsaiah 42:14 the image is applied to God Himself, likening His long-contained energy to a woman’s final travail before new birth.
Scriptural Setting:Isaiah 42:14
“I have kept silent from ages past; I have been quiet and restrained Myself. But now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.”
This verse stands at the pivot of the Servant Songs. After gentle promises for the nations (Isaiah 42:1-9) and Israel’s blindness (Isaiah 42:18-25), the restrained breath signals that divine patience is ending and decisive salvation-judgment is about to begin.
Divine Long-Suffering and Sudden Intervention
The Lord’s silence corresponds to centuries of forbearance (Psalm 50:21;Romans 3:25). When He “gasps,” mercy and wrath emerge together: judgment on idolatry, liberation for the oppressed, and the opening of blind eyes (Isaiah 42:15-16). The verb balances God’s tenderness with His unstoppable zeal.
Historical Background
Eighth-century Judah faced Assyrian domination and the coming Babylonian exile. The labor-gasp metaphor assured the remnant that God’s covenant loyalty was not dormant but gathering momentum toward a redemptive climax, ultimately fulfilled in the Servant’s mission.
Intertextual Resonances
•Genesis 2:7 – breath that grants life.
•Exodus 15:8 – breath that parts the sea in judgment and salvation.
•Ezekiel 37:9-10 – breath that resurrects the nation.
Together they trace a pattern: God breathes life, restrains His breath in patience, then releases it to renew creation.
Christological and Eschatological Connections
Isaiah 42:14 foreshadows both the cross, where divine wrath is poured on the sin-bearer (Romans 3:25-26), and the second advent, when “the Lord will slay him with the breath of His mouth” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). New Testament language of birth pains (Matthew 24:8) and delayed yet sudden return (2 Peter 3:9-10) echoes Isaiah’s gasp.
Ministry Application
1. Hope for the suffering: apparent silence is divine restraint, not abandonment.
2. Warning to the complacent: judgment can erupt as swiftly as a labor contraction.
3. Fuel for intercession: lament trusts that God’s breath will break forth in due time.
4. Model for patience: believers reflect God’s character by waiting faithfully.
Related Themes
Patience and wrath of God; Breath of God; Birth imagery; Silence and speech of God; New birth and restoration.
Forms and Transliterations
אֶשֹּׁ֥ם אשם ’eš·šōm ’eššōm eshShom
Links
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Interlinear Hebrew •
Strong's Numbers •
Englishman's Greek Concordance •
Englishman's Hebrew Concordance •
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