Isaiah 38:13

13 I try to be strong like a lion till morning, but still my illness breaks all my bones - between day and night you could finish me off.

Isaiah 38:13 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 38:13

I reckoned till morning
Or, "I set my time till the morning ^F13"; he fixed and settled it in his mind that he could live no longer than to the morning, if he lived so long; he thought he should have died before the night came on, and, now it was come, the utmost he could propose to himself was to live till morning; that was the longest time he could reckon of. According to the accents, it should be rendered, "I reckoned till morning as a lion"; or "I am like until the morning as a lion"; or, "I likened until the morning (God) as a lion"; I compared him to one; which agrees with what follows. The Targum is,

``I roared until morning, as a lion roars;''

through the force of the disease, and the pain he was in: or rather,

``I laid my bones together until the morning as a lion; "so indeed as a lion God" hath broken all my bones ^F14:''

so will he break all my bones;
or, "it will break"; that is, the sickness, as Kimchi and Jarchi; it lay in his bones, and so violent was the pain, that he thought all his bones were breaking in pieces; such is the case in burning fevers, as Jerom observes; so Kimchi interprets it of a burning fever, which is like a fire in the bones. Some understand this of God himself, to which our version directs, who may be said to do this by the disease: compare with this ( Job 16:14 ) and to this sense the following clause inclines: from day even tonight wilt thou make an end of me;
he lived till morning, which was more than he expected, and was the longest time he could set himself; and now be reckoned that before night it would be all over with him as to this world. This was the second day of his illness; and the third day he recovered, and went to the temple with his song of praise.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (rqb de ytywv) "statui, [vel] posui usque ad mane", Pagninus, Montanus; "constitui [rursum terminum] usque mane", Vatablus.
F14 Reinbeck de Accent Heb. p. 411.

Isaiah 38:13 In-Context

11 "I said, 'I will never again see Yah, Yah in the land of the living; I will look on human beings no more or be with those who live in this world.

12 My home is uprooted and taken away from me like a shepherd's tent. Like a weaver, I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom. Between day and night you could finish me off.

13 I try to be strong like a lion till morning, but still my illness breaks all my bones - between day and night you could finish me off.

14 I make little chattering sounds like a swallow, I moan aloud like a dove, My eyes are weary with looking upward. Adonai, I am overwhelmed; guarantee my life!'

15 "What is there that I can say? He has spoken to me and acted! I will go humbly all my years, remembering how bitter I was.