Isaiah 38:10

10 I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell. I sought the residue of my years; (I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go now to the gates of Sheol, that is, to the gates of the land of the dead/I shall go now to the gates of the grave; I shall be deprived of the rest of my years;)

Isaiah 38:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 38:10

I said, in the cutting off of my days
When he was told that he should die, and he believed he should; this he calls a "cutting off" in allusion to the weaver's web, ( Isaiah 38:12 ) and a cutting off "his days", he being now in the prime of his age, about thirty nine or forty years of age, and not arrived to the common period of life, and to which, according to his constitution, and the course of nature, he might have attained. The Jews call such a death a cutting off, that is, by the hand of God, which is before a man is fifty years of age. The Vulgate Latin version is, "in the midst of my days"; as it was, according to the common term of life, being threescore and ten, and at most eighty, ( Psalms 90:10 ) : I shall go to the gates of the grave;
and enter there into the house appointed for all living, which he saw were open for him, and ready to receive him: I am deprived of the residue of my days;
the other thirty or forty years which he might expect to have lived, according to the course of nature; of these he was bereaved, according to the sentence of death he now had in him; what if the words were rendered, "I am visited with more of my years ^F6?" and so the sense be, when I was apprehensive that I was just going to be cut off, and to be deprived of the days and years I might have lived, and hoped I should, to the glory of God, and the good of my subjects; just when I saw it was all over with me, I had a gracious visit or message from the Lord, assuring me that fifteen years should be added to my life: and so this is mentioned as a singular instance of divine goodness, in the midst of his distress; and to this sense the Targum agrees,

``because he remembered me for good, an addition was made to my years.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (ytwnv rty ytdqp) "visitatus sum, eum adhuc superessent anni", Tigurine version.

Isaiah 38:10 In-Context

8 Lo! I shall make the shadow of lines, by which it went down in the horologe of Ahaz, in the sun, to turn again backward by ten lines. And the sun turned again by ten lines, by [the] degrees by which it had gone down. (Lo! I shall make the shadow, cast by the sun, which went down on the stairway of Ahaz, to turn backward, or to go up, ten steps. And so the sun went back up ten steps on the stairway, on which it had just gone down.)

9 The scripture of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

10 I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell. I sought the residue of my years; (I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go now to the gates of Sheol, that is, to the gates of the land of the dead/I shall go now to the gates of the grave; I shall be deprived of the rest of my years;)

11 I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of livers; I shall no more behold a man, and a dweller of rest. (I said, I shall no longer see the Lord God in the land of the living; I shall no longer see any person, or any other inhabitant of this world.)

12 My generation is taken away, and is folded together from me, as the tabernacle of shepherds is folded together. My life is cut down as of a web; he cutted down me, the while I was woven yet. (My source of life is folded up, and taken away from me, like a shepherd's tent is folded up. My life is cut down like a web; he cut me down, while I was still weaving it.)