Discovery Box2 Chronicles 32:24-26
Context32:24 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. 1 He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a sign confirming that he would be healed. 2 32:25 But Hezekiah was ungrateful; he had a proud attitude, provoking God to be angry at him, as well as Judah and Jerusalem. 3 32:26 But then Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem humbled themselves and abandoned their pride, and the Lord was not angry with them for the rest of Hezekiah’s reign. 4
Isaiah 38:1-20
Context38:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. 5 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” 38:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you 6 faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, 7 and how I have carried out your will.” 8 Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. 9
38:4 The Lord told Isaiah, 10 38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor 11 David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life, 38:6 and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’” 38:7 Isaiah replied, 12 “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: 38:8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” 13 And then the shadow went back ten steps. 14
38:9 This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:
‘In the middle of my life 16 I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived 17 of the rest of my years.’
38:11 “I thought,
‘I will no longer see the Lord 18 in the land of the living,
I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. 19
38:12 My dwelling place 20 is removed and taken away 21 from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; 22
from the loom he cuts me off. 23
You turn day into night and end my life. 24
38:13 I cry out 25 until morning;
like a lion he shatters all my bones;
you turn day into night and end my life. 26
38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,
I coo 27 like a dove;
my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. 28
O sovereign master, 29 I am oppressed;
help me! 30
38:15 What can I say?
He has decreed and acted. 31
I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. 32
38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;
may years of life be restored to me. 33
Restore my health 34 and preserve my life.’
38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. 35
You delivered me 36 from the pit of oblivion. 37
For you removed all my sins from your sight. 38
38:18 Indeed 39 Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not 40 praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,
as I do today.
A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.
38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me, 41
and we will celebrate with music 42
for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” 43
John 11:1-5
Context11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 44 11:2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil 45 and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 46 11:3 So the sisters sent a message 47 to Jesus, 48 “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, 49 but to God’s glory, 50 so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 51 11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) 52
Philippians 2:27
Context2:27 In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. 53 But God showed mercy to him – and not to him only, but also to me – so that I would not have grief on top of grief.
Philippians 2:30
Context2:30 since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died. He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me. 54
[32:24] 1 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying.”
[32:24] 2 tn Heb “and he spoke to him and a sign he gave to him.”
[32:25] 3 tn Heb “but not according to the benefit [given] to him did Hezekiah repay, for his heart was high, and there was anger against him and against Judah and Jerusalem.”
[32:26] 4 tn Heb “and Hezekiah humbled himself in the height of his heart, he and the residents of Jerusalem, and the anger of the
[38:1] 5 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”
[38:3] 6 tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.
[38:3] 7 tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”
[38:3] 8 tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”
[38:3] 9 tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”
[38:4] 10 tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying.”
[38:5] 11 tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).
[38:7] 12 tn The words “Isaiah replied” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the present form of the Hebrew text v. 7 is joined directly to v. 6, but vv. 21-22, if original to Isaiah 38, must be inserted here. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.
[38:8] 13 tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”
[38:8] 14 tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”
[38:10] 15 tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[38:10] 16 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] 17 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.”
[38:11] 18 tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.
[38:11] 19 tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew
[38:12] 20 tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.
[38:12] 21 tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”
[38:12] 22 tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).
[38:12] 23 sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.
[38:12] 24 tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”
[38:13] 25 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] 26 tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”
[38:14] 27 tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”
[38:14] 28 tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”
[38:14] 29 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[38:14] 30 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] 31 tn Heb “and he has spoken and he has acted.”
[38:15] 32 tn Heb “because of the bitterness of my soul.”
[38:16] 33 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] 34 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.
[38:17] 35 tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”
[38:17] 36 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] 37 tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”
[38:17] 38 tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”
[38:18] 39 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[38:18] 40 tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.
[38:20] 41 tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.
[38:20] 42 tn Heb “and music [or perhaps, “stringed instruments”] we will play.”
[38:20] 43 tn Heb “all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”
[11:1] 44 tn Grk “from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”
[11:2] 45 tn Or “perfume,” “ointment.”
[11:2] 46 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It is a bit surprising that the author here identifies Mary as the one who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, since this event is not mentioned until later, in 12:3. Many see this “proleptic” reference as an indication that the author expected his readers to be familiar with the story already, and go on to assume that in general the author in writing the Fourth Gospel assumed his readers were familiar with the other three gospels. Whether the author assumed actual familiarity with the synoptic gospels or not, it is probable that he did assume some familiarity with Mary’s anointing activity.
[11:3] 47 tn The phrase “a message” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from context.
[11:3] 48 tn Grk “to him, saying”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.
[11:4] 49 tn Grk “This sickness is not to death.”
[11:4] 50 tn Or “to God’s praise.”
[11:4] 51 sn So that the Son of God may be glorified through it. These statements are highly ironic: For Lazarus, the sickness did not end in his death, because he was restored to life. But for Jesus himself, the miraculous sign he performed led to his own death, because it confirmed the authorities in their plan to kill Jesus (11:47-53). In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ death is consistently portrayed as his ‘glorification’ through which he accomplishes his return to the Father.
[11:5] 52 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It was necessary for the author to reaffirm Jesus’ love for Martha and her sister and Lazarus here because Jesus’ actions in the following verse appear to be contradictory.
