Isaías 38:14

14 Como la grulla, y como la golondrina me quejaba; gemía como la paloma; alzaba en lo alto mis ojos: Señor, violencia padezco; confórtame

Isaías 38:14 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 38:14

Like a crane, or a swallow, so did I chatter
Rather, "like a crane and a swallow", like both; sometimes loud and clamorous, like a crane ^F15, when the pain was very acute and grievous; and sometimes very low, through weakness of body, like the twittering of a swallow; or the moan he made under his affliction was like the mournful voices of these birds at certain times. Some think he refers to his prayers, which were quick and short, and expressed not with articulate words, but in groans and cries; at least were not regular and orderly, but interrupted, and scarce intelligible, like the chattering of the birds mentioned: I did mourn as a dove;
silently and patiently, within himself, for his sins and transgressions; and because of his afflictions, the fruit of them: mine eyes fail with looking upwards;
or, "on high"; or, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions express it, "to the height of heaven"; to the Lord there, whose Shechinah, as the Targum, is in the highest heavens: in his distress he looked up to heaven for help, but none came; he looked and waited till his eyes were weak with looking, and he could look no longer; both his eyes and his heart failed him, and he despaired of relief; and the prayer he put up was as follows: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me;
or, "it oppresseth me ^F16"; that is, the disease; it lay so heavy upon him, it bore him down with the weight of it, he could not stand up under it; it had seized him, and crushed him; it held him fast, and he could not get clear of it; and therefore entreats the Lord to "undertake" for him, to be his surety for good, as in ( Psalms 119:122 ) , he represents his disease as a bailiff that had arrested him, and was carrying him to the prison of the grave; and therefore prays that the Lord would bail him, or rescue him out of his hands, that he might not go down to the gates of the grave. So souls oppressed with the guilt of sin, and having fearful apprehensions of divine justice, should apply to Christ their surety, and take refuge in his undertakings, where only peace and safety are to be enjoyed. So Gussetius renders the words, "I have unrighteousness, be surety for me" {q}; and takes them to be a confession of Hezekiah, acknowledging himself guilty of unrighteousness, praying and looking to Christ the Son of God, and to his suretyship engagements, who, though not yet come to fulfil them, certainly would.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 So it is said in the Talmud, "Resh-Lakish cried like a crane", T. Bab. Kiddushin, col. 42. 1.
F16 "Opprimit me, [sub.]infirmitas, vel morbus", Munster.
F17 (yl hqve) "[njustitia est mihi] hoc est, habeo injustitiam, reus suro injustitia, [sponde pro me]", Ebr. Comment, p. 654.

Isaías 38:14 In-Context

12 Mi morada ha sido movida, y traspasada de mí, como tienda de pastor, cortó mi vida como el tejedor; me ha cortado con la enfermedad; entre el día y la noche me consumirás

13 Contaba yo hasta la mañana. Como un león molió todos mis huesos; de la mañana a la noche me acabarás

14 Como la grulla, y como la golondrina me quejaba; gemía como la paloma; alzaba en lo alto mis ojos: Señor, violencia padezco; confórtame

15 ¿Qué diré? El que me lo dijo, él mismo lo hizo. Andaré temblando con amargura de mi alma todos los años de mi vida

16 Señor, aun a todos los que vivirán, en estos quince años anunciaré la vida de mi espíritu en ellos; y cómo me hiciste dormir, y después me has dado vida