Isaiah 38:10-12

10 I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
11 I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.

Isaiah 38:10-12 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.

Cross References 10

  • 1. Psalms 102:24
  • 2. S Job 17:16; Psalms 107:18; 2 Corinthians 1:9
  • 3. S Job 17:11
  • 4. S Isaiah 12:2
  • 5. S Job 28:13; S Psalms 27:13; Psalms 116:9
  • 6. Isaiah 33:20; 2 Corinthians 5:1,4; 2 Peter 1:13-14
  • 7. S Job 4:21
  • 8. S Isaiah 34:4; Hebrews 1:12
  • 9. S Numbers 11:15; S Job 7:6; S Psalms 31:22
  • 10. ver 13; Psalms 32:4; Psalms 73:14
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