For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
For - referring to the promise, in Isaiah 57:14-15, of restoring Israel when 'contrite' (Genesis 6:3; Genesis 8:21; Psalms 78:38-39; Psalms 85:5; Psalms 103:9; Psalms 103:13-14; Micah 7:18).
I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth. God "will not contend forever" with His people, because their human spirit would thereby be utterly crushed, whereas God's object is to chasten, not to destroy them (note, Isaiah 28:27-28; Lamentations 3:33-34; Micah 7:8-9). With the ungodly He is 'angry every day' (Psalms 7:11; Revelation 14:11).
For the spirit should fail before me - or, the human spirit which went forth from me (literally, from my face, Numbers 16:22), corresponding to "which I have made" in the parallel clause. "Fail" - Hebrew, ya'ªTowp (H5848): 'would be overwhelmed,' as Psalms 61:2; Psalms 102:1-28, title. Several commentators, after the Chalmers, refer it to the resurrection. 'For the spirit, which is from me, shall put on a body.' So Ezekiel 37:1-28, as to the revival of the Jewish state. Or, 'the Spirit shall go forth from my face and clothe the body' (Psalms 104:29-30). So the Septuagint and Vulgate. I prefer the English version.