Isaiah 38:16

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

may years of life be restored to me. ¹ 

Restore my health ²  and preserve my life.’

Isaiah 38:12

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 

[38:16]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[38:12]  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.”