Isaiah 38:10-20

10 I was the one who said, "I must go in the quiet of my days; I am summoned through the gates of Sheol [for] the rest of my years."
11 I said, "I shall not see Yah! Yah in the land of the living! I shall no more look at humankind among [the] inhabitants of [the] world.
12 My dwelling place is pulled up and removed from me like the tent of my shepherd; I have rolled up my life like [a] weaver. He cuts me off from [the] thrum; from day to night you bring me to an end.
13 I lie down until morning; like [a] lion, so he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.
14 Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like [a] dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!
15 What can I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done [it]. I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 Lord, they live by them, and the life of my spirit belongs to all among them. And restore me to health and keep me alive!
17 Look! Bitterness was bitter to me for peace. And you were the one who loved my life from [the] pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18 For Sheol cannot praise you; death [cannot] praise you. Those who go down [to the] pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 [The] living, [the] living one praises you like me today; a father will make your faithfulness known to children.
20 Yahweh, save me, and we will play my music [on] stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the temple of Yahweh."

Isaiah 38:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 38

This chapter gives an account of Hezekiah's sickness, recovery, and thanksgiving on that account. His sickness, and the nature of it, and his preparation for it, as directed to by the prophet, Isa 38:1, his prayer to God upon it, Isa 38:2,3 the answer returned unto it, by which he is assured of living fifteen years more, and of the deliverance and protection of the city of Jerusalem from the Assyrians, Isa 38:4-6, the token of his recovery, the sun going back ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz, Isa 38:7,8, a writing of Hezekiah's upon his recovery, in commemoration of it, Isa 38:9, in which he represents the deplorable condition he had been in, the terrible apprehensions he had of things, especially of the wrath and fury of the Almighty, and his sorrowful and mournful complaints, Isa 38:10-14, he observes his deliverance according to the word of God; expresses his faith in it; promises to retain a cheerful sense of it; owning that it was by the promises of God that he had lived as other saints did; and ascribes his preservation from the grave to the love of God to him, of which the forgiveness of his sins was an evidence, Isa 38:15-17, the end of which salvation was, that he might praise the Lord, which he determined to do, on stringed instruments, Isa 38:18-20, and the chapter is closed with observing the means of curing him of his boil; and that it was at his request that the sign of his recovery was given him, Isa 38:21,22.

Footnotes 4

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.