Yesaya 38:10

38:10 “I thought, ¹ 

‘In the middle of my life ²  I must walk through the gates of Sheol,

I am deprived ³  of the rest of my years.’

Yesaya 38:17

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ⁴ 

You delivered me ⁵  from the pit of oblivion. ⁶ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁷ 

[38:10]  ¹ tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:10]  ² tn The precise meaning of the phrase בִּדְמִי יָמַי (bidmi yamay, “in the [?] of my days”) is uncertain. According to HALOT 226 s.v. דְּמִי this word is a hapax legomenon meaning “half.” Others derive the form from דַּמִי (dami, “quiet, rest, peacefulness”).

[38:10]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Pual of of פָּקַד (paqad) occurs only here and in Exod 38:21, where it appears to mean “passed in review” or “mustered.” Perhaps the idea is, “I have been called away for the remainder of my years.” To bring out the sense more clearly, one can translate, “I am deprived of the rest of my years.”

[38:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ⁶ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”