Isaiah 38:17-19

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ¹ 

You delivered me ²  from the pit of oblivion. ³ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁴ 

38:18 Indeed ⁵  Sheol does not give you thanks;

death does not ⁶  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.

[38:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ² 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]  ³ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[38:18]  ⁵ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:18]  ⁶ tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.