Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 38:13
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.
13. I reckoned till morning ] R.V. has “I quieted myself until morning.” It is better to amend the text slightly and read I cried until morning.
so will he break (better, he breaketh) all my bones ] the crushing effect of pain. Cf. Lam 3:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 ( shvythy), 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. The last line of the foregoing verse migom 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, c. – “I roared until the morning like the lion”] For shivvithi, the Chaldee has nihameith: he read shaagti, the proper term for the roaring of a lion often applied to the deep groaning of men in sickness. See Ps 22:1; Ps 32:3; Ps 38:9; Job 3:24. The Masoretes divide the sentence, as I have done; taking caari, like a lion, into the first member; and so likewise the Septuagint.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When I was filled with pain, and could not rest all the night long, even till morning, my thoughts were working and presaging that God would instantly break me to pieces, and that every moment would be my last; and the like restless and dismal thoughts followed me from morning till evening. But he mentions only the time before morning, to aggravate his misery, that he was so grievously tormented, when others had sweet rest and repose.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. I reckoned . . . thatrather,I composed (my mind, during the night, expecting relief in the”morning,” so Job 7:4):for (“that” is not, as in the EnglishVersion, to be supplied) as a lion He was breaking all mybones [VITRINGA] (Job 10:16;Lam 3:10; Lam 3:11).The Hebrew, in Ps 131:2,is rendered, “I quieted.” Or else, “I made myself likea lion (namely, in roaring, through pain), He was so breaking mybones!” Poets often compare great groaning to a lion’s roaring,so, Isa 38:14, he compares hisgroans to the sounds of other animals (Ps22:1) [MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I reckoned till morning,…. Or, “I set my time till the morning m”; 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 n:”
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.
m “statui, [vel] posui usque ad mane”, Pagninus, Montanus; “constitui [rursum terminum] usque mane”, Vatablus. n Reinbeck de Accent Heb. p. 411.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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.”
(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.)
Tsiphtseph , like , is applied to every kind of shrill, penetrating, inarticulate sound. The ordinary meaning of dallu , to hang long and loose, has here passed over into that of pining (syn. kalah ). The name of God in Isa 38:14 is Adonai, not Jehovah, being one of the 134 , 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 as an imperative. The pointing, according to which we are to read ashqa , admits this (compare shamrah in Psa 86:2; Psa 119:167; and on the other hand, zochralli , 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 ashqah and arbeni , a substantive ( ashqah for osheq ), “there is pressure upon me” (compare , 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).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
13. I reckoned till the dawn. Others translate it “I determined,” or “I laid down.” Here it means what we express by the ordinary phrase, (Je fasoye mon compte,)” I laid my account.” From this verse it may be inferred that Hezekiah labored two days at least under the disease; for in the preceding verse he pronounced its severity to be so great that he expected immediate death. And now, when one day was past, he still waited till the dawn, and again, from day even to night, so that he said that he would die every moment. The meaning therefore is, that though he reached “the dawn,” still through constant tossings he was hastening to death, because, having been struck by a terrible judgment of God, he cared nothing about his life; and as the Greeks, when they intended to say that nothing is more vain than man, said that he was ( ἐφήμερον) “an ephemeral animal,” that is, “the creature of a day,” so Hezekiah means by “the life of a day” that which is fading and has no duration.
As a lion, so hath he broken my bones. The comparison of God to a lion ought not to be reckoned strange, though God is naturally “gracious, merciful, and kind.” (Exo 34:6.) Nothing certainly can more truly belong to God than these attributes; but we cannot be aware of that gentleness, when we have provoked him by our crimes and urged him to severity by our wickedness. Besides, there is no cruelty and fierceness in wild beasts that is fitted to strike such terror as we feel from the bare mention of the name of God, and justly; for the Lord’s chastisements must have sufficient power to humble and cast us down to hell itself, so that we shall be almost destitute of consolation and regard everything as full of horror. In like manner also, we see that David has described these terrors, when he says that “his bones are numbered, his couch is moistened with tears, his soul is troubled, and hell is opened.” (Psa 6:3.) Thus must the godly be sometimes terrified by the judgment of God, that they may be more powerfully excited to desire his favor.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) I reckoned till morning . . .Better, I quieted myself, as in Psa. 131:2. He threw himself into the calm submission of the weaned child; yet when the morning came there was a fresh access of suffering. Life had been prolonged, contrary to his expectations; but it was only for renewed agony. Surely that would end his sufferings.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Night came, but no relief.
Till morning The disease wrought hard, like a lion, to break all my bones To kill outright. Then all the following day.
From day to night Pain was so great, so resembling a lion crushing all my bones, that I thought a quick end must be certain.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 38:13. I reckoned till morning, &c. The meaning of the first clause is, “When I found myself surviving till the evening, I then thought with myself, that the next morning would be the utmost term of my life: in the mean time I experienced the most grievous pains, as if a lion broke all my bones.” He repeats the sentence of the preceding verse, From day even to night, &c. to shew how he passed another day of grievous pain. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 38:13 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.
Ver. 13. I reckoned until morning. ] And then, at utmost, I thought there would be an end of my life and pain together; for what through troubles without and terrors within, he was in a woe case, even as if a lion had broke all his bones. Hoc sentinnt qui magnis febribus aestuant, saith an interpreter. Now, whereas some say all die of a fever, let us take care we die not of a cold shaking fit of fear.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I reckoned = I waited expectantly.
as a lion = as a lion [awaits his prey].
so will He break. See note on Psa 22:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
as a lion: 1Ki 13:24-26, 1Ki 20:36, Job 10:16, Job 10:17, Job 16:12-14, Psa 39:10, Psa 50:22, Psa 51:8, Dan 6:24, Hos 5:14, 1Co 11:30-32
Reciprocal: Num 24:8 – break Rth 1:20 – dealt Job 4:20 – from morning Job 7:6 – swifter Job 7:18 – visit Job 30:17 – in the night season Psa 7:2 – Lest Lam 3:4 – he hath Lam 3:10 – unto
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 38:13-14. I reckoned till morning, &c. When night came I reckoned I should die before the next morning, my pains being as great as if my bones had been broken, and the whole frame of my body crushed by a lion. Bishop Lowth reads: I roared until the morning like the lion; so did he break to pieces all my bones. Like a crane or a swallow, &c. My pains were sometimes so violent that they forced me to cry aloud; at other times my strength was so exhausted that I could only groan inwardly, and bemoan my unhappy condition in sighs. I did mourn as a dove Whose mournful tone is observed Isa 59:11, and elsewhere; mine eyes fail with looking upward While I lift up my eyes and heart to God for relief in vain; O Lord, I am oppressed Namely, by my disease, which, like a sergeant, hath seized upon me, and is haling me to the prison of the grave; undertake for me Stop the execution, and rescue me out of his hands.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
38:13 I reckoned {l} 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.
(l) Overnight I thought that I would live till morning, but my pangs in the night persuaded me the contrary: he shows the horror that the faithful have when they apprehend God’s judgment against their sin.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The king had composed himself; he had prepared for a normal future. But the Lord had interrupted his plans as an attacking lion surprises its prey and springs on it, breaking its bones.