Isaiah 38:11-12

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord ¹  in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ² 

38:12 My dwelling place ³  is removed and taken away ⁴  from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; ⁵ 

from the loom he cuts me off. ⁶ 

You turn day into night and end my life. ⁷ 

[38:11]  ¹ 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]  ² 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 mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

[38:12]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).

[38:12]  ⁶ sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.

[38:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”