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Selected Verse: Isaiah 38:13 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 38:13 |
Strong Concordance |
I reckoned [07737] till morning [01242], that, as a lion [0738], so will he break [07665] all my bones [06106]: from day [03117] even to night [03915] wilt thou make an end [07999] of me. |
| |
King James |
I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| I reckoned . . . that--rather, I composed (my mind, during the night, expecting relief in the "morning," so Job 7:4): for ("that" is not, as in the English Version, to be supplied) as a lion He was breaking all my bones [VITRINGA] (Job 10:16; Lam 3:10-11). The Hebrew, in Psa 131:2, is rendered, "I quieted." Or else, "I made myself like a lion (namely, in roaring, through pain), He was so breaking my bones!" Poets often compare great groaning to a lion's roaring, so, Isa 38:14, he compares his groans to the sounds of other animals (Psa 22:1) [MAURER]. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
I reckoned - There has been considerable variety in interpreting this expression. The Septuagint renders it, 'I was given up in the morning as to a lion.' The Vulgate renders it, 'I hoped until morning;' and in his commentary, Jerome says it means, that as Job in his trouble and anguish Isa 7:4 sustained himself at night expecting the day, and in the daytime waiting for the night, expecting a change for the better, so Hezekiah waited during the night expecting relief in the morning. He knew, says he, that the violence of a burning fever would very soon subside, and he thus composed himself, and calmly waited. So Vitringa renders it, 'I composed my mind until the morning.' Others suppose that the word used here (שׁוּיתי shı̂vı̂ythı̂y), means, 'I made myself like a lion,' that is, in roaring. But the more probable and generally adopted interpretation is, 'I looked to God, hoping that the disease would soon subside, but as a lion he crushed my bones. The disease increased in violence, and became past endurance. Then I chattered like a swallow, and mourned like a dove, over the certainty that I must die.' Our translators, by inserting the word 'that,' have greatly marred the sense, as if he had reckoned or calculated through the night that God would break his bones, or increase the violence of the disease, whereas the reverse was true. He hoped and expected that it would be otherwise, and with that view he composed his mind.
As a lion so will he break all my bones - This should be in the past tense. 'He (God) did crush all my bones.' The connection requires this construction. The idea is, that as a lion crushes the bones of his prey, producing great pain and sudden death, so it was with God in producing great pain and the prospect of sudden death.
From day even to night ... - (See the note at Isa 38:12) Between morning and night. That is, his pain so resembled the crushing of all the bones of an animal by the lion, that he could not hope to survive the day. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
In strophe 2 the retrospective glance is continued. His sufferings increased to such an extent, that there was nothing left in his power but a whining moan - a languid look for help.
I waited patiently till the morning; like the lion,
So He broke in pieces all my bones:
From day to night Thou makest it all over with me.
Like a swallow, a crane, so I chirped;
I cooed like the dove;
Mine eyes pined for the height.
O Lord, men assault me! Be bail for me."
The meaning of shivvithi may be seen from Psa 131:2, in accordance with which an Arabic translator has rendered the passage, "I smoothed, i.e., quieted (sâweitu) my soul, notwithstanding the sickness, all night, until the morning." But the morning brought no improvement; the violence of the pain, crushing him like a lion, forced from him again and again the mournful cry, that he must die before the day had passed, and should not live to see another. The Masora here has a remark, which is of importance, as bearing upon Psa 22:17, viz., that כּארי occurs twice, and לישׁני בתרי with two different meanings. The meaning of עגוּר סוּס is determined by Jer 8:7, from which it is evident that עגּור is not an attribute of סּוס here, in the sense of "chirping mournfully," or "making a circle in its flight," but is the name of a particular bird, namely the crane. For although the Targum and Syriac both seem to render סוס in that passage (keri סיס, which is the chethib here, according to the reading of Orientals) by כּוּרכּיא) (a crane, Arab. Kurki), and עגוּר, by סנוּניתא) (the ordinary name of the swallow, which Haji Gaon explains by the Arabic chuttaf), yet the relation is really the reverse: sūs (sı̄s) is the swallow, and ‛âgūr the crane. Hence Rashi, on b. Kiddusin 44a ("then cried Res Lakis like a crane"), gives âg, Fr. grue, as the rendering of כרוכי; whereas Parchon (s.verse ‛âgūr), confounds the crane with the hoarsely croaking stork (ciconia alba). The verb 'ătsaphtsēph answers very well not only to the flebile murmur of the swallow (into which the penitential Progne was changed, according to the Grecian myth), but also to the shrill shriek of the crane, which is caused by the extraordinary elongation of the windpipe, and is onomatopoetically expressed in its name ‛âgūr.
(Note: The call of the parent cranes, according to Naumann (Vgel Deutschlands, ix. 364), is a rattling kruh (gruh), which is uncommonly violent when close, and has a trumpet-like sound, which makes it audible at a very great distance. With the younger cranes it has a somewhat higher tone, which often passes, so to speak, into a falsetto.)
Tsiphtsēph, like τρίζειν, is applied to every kind of shrill, penetrating, inarticulate sound. The ordinary meaning of dallū, to hang long and loose, has here passed over into that of pining (syn. kâlâh). The name of God in Isa 38:14 is Adonai, not Jehovah, being one of the 134 ודּין, i.e., words which are really written Adonai, and not merely to be read so.
(Note: Vid., Br, Psalterium, p. 133.)
It is impossible to take עשׁקה־לּי as an imperative. The pointing, according to which we are to read ‛ashqa, admits this (compare shâmrâh in Psa 86:2; Psa 119:167; and on the other hand, zochrālli, in Neh 5:19, etc.);
(Note: Vid., Br, Thorath Emeth, pp. 22, 23.)
but the usage of the language does not yield any appropriate meaning for such an imperative. It is either the third person, used in a neuter sense, "it is sorrowful with me;" or, what Luzzatto very properly considers still more probable, on account of the antithesis of ‛ashqâh and ‛ârbēni, a substantive (‛ashqah for ‛osheq), "there is pressure upon me" (compare רזי־לי, Isa 24:16), i.e., it presses me like an unmerciful creditor; and to this there is appended the petition, Guarantee me, i.e., be bail for me, answer for me (see at Job 17:3). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| I reckon - When I could not rest all the night even 'till morning, my thoughts were presaging that God would instantly break me to pieces, and the like thoughts followed me from morning 'till evening. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
The last line of the foregoing verse מיום עד לילה תשלימני miyom ad layelah tashlimeni, "In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web; "or, as the common version has it, "From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, "is not repeated at the end of this verse in the Syriac version; and a MS. omits it. It seems to have been inserted a second time in the Hebrew text by mistake.
I reckoned till morning, etc. "I roared until the morning like the lion" - For שויתי shivvithi, the Chaldee has נהמית nihameith: he read שאגתי shaagti, the proper term for the roaring of a lion; often applied to the deep groaning of men in sickness. See Psalm 22, Psa 32:3; Psa 38:9; Job 3:24. The Masoretes divide the sentence, as I have done; taking כארי caari, like a lion, into the first member; and so likewise the Septuagint. |
1 To the chief Musician [05329] upon Aijeleth [0365] Shahar [07837], A Psalm [04210] of David [01732]. My God [0410], my God [0410], why hast thou forsaken [05800] me? why art thou so far [07350] from helping [03444] me, and from the words [01697] of my roaring [07581]?
14 Like a crane [05483] or a swallow [05693], so did I chatter [06850]: I did mourn [01897] as a dove [03123]: mine eyes [05869] fail [01809] with looking upward [04791]: O LORD [03068], I am oppressed [06234]; undertake [06148] for me.
2 Surely I have behaved [07737] and quieted [01826] myself [05315], as a child that is weaned [01580] of his mother [0517]: my soul [05315] is even as a weaned child [01580].
10 He was unto me as a bear [01677] lying in wait [0693], and as a lion [0738] in secret places [04565].
11 He hath turned aside [05493] my ways [01870], and pulled me in pieces [06582]: he hath made [07760] me desolate [08074].
16 For it increaseth [01342]. Thou huntest [06679] me as a fierce lion [07826]: and again [07725] thou shewest thyself marvellous [06381] upon me.
4 When I lie down [07901], I say [0559], When shall I arise [06965], and the night [06153] be gone [04059]? and I am full [07646] of tossings to and fro [05076] unto the dawning of the day [05399].
12 Mine age [01755] is departed [05265], and is removed [01540] from me as a shepherd's [07473] tent [0168]: I have cut off [07088] like a weaver [0707] my life [02416]: he will cut me off [01214] with pining sickness [01803]: from day [03117] even to night [03915] wilt thou make an end [07999] of me.
4 And say [0559] unto him, Take heed [08104], and be quiet [08252]; fear [03372] not, neither be fainthearted [07401] [03824] for the two [08147] tails [02180] of these smoking [06226] firebrands [0181], for the fierce [02750] anger [0639] of Rezin [07526] with Syria [0758], and of the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425].
3 Lay down [07760] now, put me in a surety [06148] with thee; who is he that will strike [08628] hands [03027] with me?
16 From the uttermost part [03671] of the earth [0776] have we heard [08085] songs [02158], even glory [06643] to the righteous [06662]. But I said [0559], My leanness [07334], my leanness [07334], woe [0188] unto me! the treacherous dealers [0898] have dealt treacherously [0898]; yea, the treacherous dealers [0898] have dealt very [0899] treacherously [0898].
19 Think [02142] upon me, my God [0430], for good [02896], according to all that I have done [06213] for this people [05971].
167 My soul [05315] hath kept [08104] thy testimonies [05713]; and I love [0157] them exceedingly [03966].
2 Preserve [08104] my soul [05315]; for I am holy [02623]: O thou my God [0430], save [03467] thy servant [05650] that trusteth [0982] in thee.
14 Like a crane [05483] or a swallow [05693], so did I chatter [06850]: I did mourn [01897] as a dove [03123]: mine eyes [05869] fail [01809] with looking upward [04791]: O LORD [03068], I am oppressed [06234]; undertake [06148] for me.
7 Yea, the stork [02624] in the heaven [08064] knoweth [03045] her appointed times [04150]; and the turtle [08449] and the crane [05483] and the swallow [05693] observe [08104] the time [06256] of their coming [0935]; but my people [05971] know [03045] not the judgment [04941] of the LORD [03068].
17 I may tell [05608] all my bones [06106]: they look [05027] and stare [07200] upon me.
2 Surely I have behaved [07737] and quieted [01826] myself [05315], as a child that is weaned [01580] of his mother [0517]: my soul [05315] is even as a weaned child [01580].
24 For my sighing [0585] cometh [0935] before [06440] I eat [03899], and my roarings [07581] are poured out [05413] like the waters [04325].
9 Lord [0136], all my desire [08378] is before thee; and my groaning [0585] is not hid [05641] from thee.
3 When I kept silence [02790], my bones [06106] waxed old [01086] through my roaring [07581] all the day [03117] long.