Yesaya 38:13-16

38:13 I cry out ¹  until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life. ² 

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo ³  like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ⁴ 

O sovereign master, ⁵  I am oppressed;

help me! ⁶ 

38:15 What can I say?

He has decreed and acted. ⁷ 

I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. ⁸ 

38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;

may years of life be restored to me. ⁹ 

Restore my health ¹⁰  and preserve my life.’

[38:13]  ¹ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.

[38:13]  ² tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[38:14]  ³ tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”

[38:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”

[38:14]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[38:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “stand surety for me.” Hezekiah seems to be picturing himself as a debtor who is being exploited; he asks that the Lord might relieve his debt and deliver him from the oppressive creditor.

[38:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he has spoken and he has acted.”

[38:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “because of the bitterness of my soul.”

[38:16]  ⁹ tn The translation offered here is purely speculative. The text as it stands is meaningless and probably corrupt. It reads literally, “O lord, on account of them [the suffix is masculine plural], they live, and to all in them [the suffix is feminine plural], life of my spirit.”

[38:16]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as indicative, “you restore my health,” but the following imperatival form suggests it be understood as an imperfect of request.