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Subject

Waiting

The years between the promise and the answer.

Part of Topics & Trials

Also called: wait on the LORD, delay, how long, patience of the saints, the years between, tarry

What Waiting covers, and where it stops

This subject covers the years between a promise and its answer, and what Scripture says a person does in them. Bearing with people and delays without letting go belongs to Patience. The expectation the waiting rests on belongs to Hope.

On this page, 7 sections

The one drawing

Across the canon

291 verses across 51 of the 66 books, Genesis to Revelation. A column is taller and brighter where the King James text returns to it. Each book with a verse in it opens that book.

12 passages

Where Scripture speaks

The passages this subject stands on, in canon order.

And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
Genesis 8:10KJVNoah waits seven more days before sending the dove again
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalms 27:14KJVWait on the Lord: be of good courage
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Psalms 37:7KJVRest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him
I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalms 40:1KJVI waited patiently for the Lord
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Psalms 130:5KJVI wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31KJVThey that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength
The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Lamentations 3:25KJVThe Lord is good unto them that wait for him
Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
Micah 7:7KJVI will wait for the God of my salvation
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Habakkuk 2:3KJVThough it tarry, wait for it; it will surely come
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luke 2:25KJVSimeon waiting for the consolation of Israel
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Romans 8:25KJVWe with patience wait for what we hope but do not see
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
James 5:7KJVBe patient, as the husbandman waits for the harvest
Noah releases the dove from the ark and watches the sky — waiting on God's timing when the waters have not yet gone down.
Noah releases the dove from the ark and watches the sky — waiting on God's timing when the waters have not yet gone down.Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Waiting in Scripture, in full

Waiting in Scripture is the posture of faith when God has promised but not yet delivered — Abraham 25 years for Isaac, Israel 430 in Egypt, David anointed-but-unthroned for years, Simeon and Anna for the consolation of Israel. The Psalms repeatedly command "wait on the LORD" and frame waiting as strength-renewal, not passivity.

5 voices

What teachers have said

Those that wait upon the Lord, as dependents on him, expectants from him, and suppliants to him, shall inherit the earth, as a token of his present favour to them and an earnest of better things intended for them in the other world. God is a good Master, that provides plentifully and well, not only for his working servants, but for his waiting servants.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710

The word קוה kavah, which we translate to wait, properly signifies the extension of a cord from one point to another. This is a fine metaphor: God is one point, the human heart is the other; and the extended cord between both is the earnest believing desire of the soul.

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible

Written before 1832.

Patient waiting is necessary that we may fulfill what we have begun to be and, through God's help, that we may obtain what we hope for and believe.

Cyprian· Treatise IX. On the Advantage of Patience 13

Written before 258.

But if from that time it was said, "Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry," it is plain that now He is nearer. Wherefore also waiting is no small reward.

John Chrysostom· Homily on Hebrews 21

Written before 407.

Wait therefore he will, wait he does, and when Christ comes to heal him, lo! he is waiting his turn. What an attitude for a sinner at Mercy's gate! The man's hopes seemed low enough ere Christ came to him.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871

The words underneath

Each card is one Hebrew or Greek word behind waiting. It gives the sense, the count across the canon, and the number in Strong's 1890 concordance.

280 verses

The complete list

The King James text uses the language of waiting in 291 verses. 11 of them are quoted above and the other 280 stand here, book by book. 1 more verse above shows waiting without using one of its words, so it is outside that count. Open a book to read the references with a clause of each verse.

Genesis8
Exodus4
Leviticus1
Numbers9
Deuteronomy1
Joshua2
Judges22
Ruth3
1 Samuel9
2 Samuel9
1 Kings1
2 Kings9
1 Chronicles6
2 Chronicles5
Ezra1
Nehemiah1
Job13
Psalms29
Proverbs10
Ecclesiastes1
Isaiah12
Jeremiah5
Lamentations3
Ezekiel1
Daniel1
Hosea3
Micah3
Zephaniah1
Zechariah1
Matthew4
Mark3
Luke10
John5
Acts24
Romans11
1 Corinthians5
2 Corinthians3
Galatians2
Ephesians2
Colossians2
1 Thessalonians3
2 Thessalonians2
1 Timothy4
2 Timothy3
Titus1
Hebrews5
James5
1 Peter2
2 Peter3
Revelation7

Topics & Trials

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