Isaiah 38:13
in Isaiah 38I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I quieted myself until morning; as a lion, so he breaketh all my bones: From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
KJV
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.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 38
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
This site's exposition
Like a lion He breaks all my bones
on Isaiah 38:13-14
The sickness becomes a predator: Like a lion He breaks all my bones. The refrain from day until night You make an end of me repeats the clock the king watched. My eyes grow weak as I look upward, the posture of a man with no arguments left.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 13) I hoped until morning; like a lion, it has crushed all my bones. From morning until evening you will finish me. In the morning, he says, you will finish me until evening: I hoped until morning: which Job also says he endured in his distress and bodily torments (Job IV), when in daylight he awaited night, and in darkness awaited light, thinking that the punishments could be changed by the shifting of seasons.
In that day I was delivered till morning as to a lion, he did so break all my bones—from day even to night was I delivered over; meaning: In the time then of my sickness, I was delivered over to the fever as to a …
The Medieval Church1 voice
776. Third, he laments his anxiety of heart. And first, as to the continual expectation of death: from morning, namely, I was speaking, even tonight you will make an end of me, in death. And then, not dying, I hoped, again, till morning, so that …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
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.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Afflictions are sent to bring us to our Bibles and to our knees. When Hezekiah was in health he went up to the house of the Lord to pray, for that was then the house of prayer. When he was sick in bed he turned his face towards the wall, probably towards the temple, which was a type of Christ, to whom we must look by faith in every prayer.
When we are sick we are very apt to be thus calculating our time, and, after all, we are still at uncertainty. It should be more our care how we shall get safely to another world than how long we are likely to live in this world.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The Hebrew, in Ps 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 (Ps 22:1) [MAURER].
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.
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
I made [myself] myself all night to suffer the tortures of the illness, and I strengthened myself like a lion to suffer.
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
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁוִּ֤יתִי | shiviti | I have lain down | H7737 → | 21 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| בֹּ֙קֶר֙ | boker | morning | H1242 → | 214 times |
| כָּֽאֲרִ֔י | kaari | like <the> lion | H738 → | 80 times |
| כֵּ֥ן | ken | so | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יְשַׁבֵּ֖ר | yeshaber | he breaks | H7665 → | 147 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עַצְמוֹתָ֑י | atzmotai | bones my | H6106 → | 126 times |
| מִיּ֥וֹם | miyom | from day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | unto | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| לַ֖יְלָה | laylah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| תַּשְׁלִימֵֽנִי׃ | tashlimeni | you make an end of me | H7999 → | 116 times |
שִׁוִּ֤יתִיI have lain down
shivitiH7737 →21 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
בֹּ֙קֶר֙morning
bokerH1242 →214 times
כָּֽאֲרִ֔יlike <the> lion
kaariH738 →80 times
כֵּ֥ןso
kenH3651 →771 times
יְשַׁבֵּ֖רhe breaks
yeshaberH7665 →147 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עַצְמוֹתָ֑יbones my
atzmotaiH6106 →126 times
מִיּ֥וֹםfrom day
miyomH3117 →2304 times
עַד־unto
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
לַ֖יְלָהnight
laylahH3915 →233 times
תַּשְׁלִימֵֽנִי׃you make an end of me
tashlimeniH7999 →116 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
Psalms 51:8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
it leads to
- Hosea 6:1–2
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Job 5:17–18
Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
- Psalms 6:2–3
Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
- Psalms 119:81–82
My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
- Hosea 6:1–2
Through
Psalms 50:22Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
it leads to
- Job 8:13
Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.
- Psalms 9:17
The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God.
- Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget…
- Job 8:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 8; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.