Isaiah 38:10
in Isaiah 38I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
KJV
I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
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This verse in Isaiah 38
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 10) I said in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I have sought the remainder of my years.
This site's exposition
a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah
on Isaiah 38:9-10
The heading marks a shift from narrative to the king's own composition. In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol. The gates of Sheol and the remainder of my years are the words of a man who had begun counting himself among the dead.
This site's exposition
In the prime of my life
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the prime of life as its quiet days, the tranquil reign Hezekiah now looked forward to. The remainder of my years are the years he had counted on. The gates of Sheol close on them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
I said in the noontide of my days I shall go, as if he said, I always cherished this thought in my heart, saying to myself, that I shall live always and never die. For by his saying: In the noontide of my days I …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In the mystery of the anointing of kings, Christ is symbolized by David, Solomon, Ezechiah and Josiah. Christ is symbolized by Ezechiah: "Once I said, 'In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned.'"
And he laments three things. First, the horror of death: in the midst of my days, that is, in my youth, to the gates of hell, that is, limbo, or death, or the grave: my life was drawing near to hell beneath (Sir 51:6). …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I said, in the cutting off of my days,.... When he was told that he should die, and he believed he should; this he calls a "cutting off" in allusion to the weaver's web, Isa 38:12 and a cutting off "his days", he being now in the prime of his age, about thirty nine or forty years of age, and not arrived to the common period of life, and to which, according to his constitution, and the course of nature, he might have attained.
He tells us what his thoughts were of himself when he was at the worst; and these he keeps in remembrance, (1.) As blaming himself for his despondency, and that he gave up himself for gone; whereas while there is life there is hope, and room for our prayer and God's mercy.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Isa 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, "in the tranquillity of my days," that is, that period of life when I might now look forward to a tranquil reign [MAURER]. The Hebrew is so translated (Isa 62:6, 7). go to--rather, "go into," as in Isa 46:2 [MAURER]. residue of my years--those which I had calculated on.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I said - Probably the words ‘I said’ do not imply that he said or spoke this openly or audibly; but this was the language of his heart, or the substance of his reflections. In the cutting off of my days - There has been considerable diversity of interpretation in regard to this phrase. Vitringa renders it as our translators have done.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
I said in the sorrow of my days, I shall go into the gates of the grave; but because He remembered me for good, an addition hath been made to my years.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
[ Addendum: I will not see the Eternal (יָהּ) I will no longer use the name יָהּ.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲנִ֣י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| אָמַ֗רְתִּי | ʾamarti | I said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בִּדְמִ֥י | bidmi | in [the] half of | H1824 → | 4 times |
| יָמַ֛י | yamai | days my | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֵלֵ֖כָה | ʾelekhah | let me go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֣י | beshaarei | in [the] gates of | H8179 → | 374 times |
| שְׁא֑וֹל | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
| פֻּקַּ֖דְתִּי | pukadti | I have been caused to miss | H6485 → | 303 times |
| יֶ֥תֶר | yeter | [the] remainder of | H3499 → | 102 times |
| שְׁנוֹתָֽי׃ | shenotai | years my | H8141 → | 877 times |
אֲנִ֣יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
אָמַ֗רְתִּיI said
ʾamartiH559 →5305 times
בִּדְמִ֥יin [the] half of
bidmiH1824 →4 times
יָמַ֛יdays my
yamaiH3117 →2304 times
אֵלֵ֖כָהlet me go
ʾelekhahH1980 →1546 times
בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֣יin [the] gates of
beshaareiH8179 →374 times
שְׁא֑וֹלSheol
sheolH7585 →66 times
פֻּקַּ֖דְתִּיI have been caused to miss
pukadtiH6485 →303 times
יֶ֥תֶר[the] remainder of
yeterH3499 →102 times
שְׁנוֹתָֽי׃years my
shenotaiH8141 →877 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Corinthians 1:9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7
Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
- Hebrews 11:19
Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7–10
or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
- Romans 4:17–25
As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead…
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
Through
Job 7:7Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.
it leads to
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Psalms 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
- James 4:14
Through
Job 6:11What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?
it leads to
- Psalms 103:14–16
For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.
- Psalms 103:14–16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.