Isaiah 38:13

13 sperabam usque ad mane quasi leo sic contrivit omnia ossa mea de mane usque ad vesperam finies me

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 dixi non videbo Dominum Dominum in terra viventium non aspiciam hominem ultra et habitatorem quievit

12 generatio mea ablata est et convoluta est a me quasi tabernaculum pastorum praecisa est velut a texente vita mea dum adhuc ordirer succidit me de mane usque ad vesperam finies me

13 sperabam usque ad mane quasi leo sic contrivit omnia ossa mea de mane usque ad vesperam finies me

14 sicut pullus hirundinis sic clamabo meditabor ut columba adtenuati sunt oculi mei suspicientes in excelsum Domine vim patior sponde pro me

15 quid dicam aut quid respondebit mihi cum ipse fecerit recogitabo omnes annos meos in amaritudine animae meae