Amplified Bible
Isaiah 38:17
17Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness; But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction), For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
Isaiah 38:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
- New International Version (NIV)Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
Context of Isaiah 38:17
15“What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will wander aimlessly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. 16O Lord, by these things men live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; Restore me to health and let me live! Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness; But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction), For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18For Sheol cannot praise or thank You, Death cannot praise You and rejoice in You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. 19It is the living who give praise and thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
Read all of Isaiah 38Isaiah 38:17 word by word
הִנֵּ֥ה לְשָׁל֖וֹם מַר־לִ֣י מָ֑ר וְאַתָּ֞ה חָשַׁ֤קְתָּ נַפְשִׁי֙ מִשַּׁ֣חַת בְּלִ֔י כִּ֥י הִשְׁלַ֛כְתָּ אַחֲרֵ֥י גֵוְךָ֖ כָּל־חֲטָאָֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Behold, for peaceשָׁלוֹםshâlôm shâlôm · peace: well-beingH7965
- I had great bitternessמָרַרmârar · to provokeH4843
- I had great bitternessמַרmar mârâh · bitterH4751
- but thou hast in loveחָשַׁקchâshaq · to desireH2836
- to my soulנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: lifeH5315
- from the pitשַׁ֫חַתshachath · Pit: hellH7845
- of corruptionבְּלִיbelîy · withoutH1097
- for thou hast castשָׁלַךְshâlak · to throwH7993
- all my sinsחֵטְאchêţ' · sinH2399
- behindאַחַר'achar · afterH310
- thy backגֵּוgêv · backH1460
Cross-references for Isaiah 38:17
- Job 3:25For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, And that of which I am afraid has come upon me.
- Job 29:18Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the sand.
- Psalms 30:6As for me, in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.”
- Psalms 30:3O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead); You have kept me alive, so that I would not go down to the pit (grave).
- Psalms 40:2He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.
- Psalms 86:13For great is Your lovingkindness and graciousness toward me; And You have rescued my life from the depths of Sheol [from death].
- Psalms 88:4I am counted among those who go down to the pit (grave); I am like a man who has no strength [a mere shadow],
- Jonah 2:6I descended to the [very] roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed behind me [bolting me in] forever, Yet You have brought up my life from the pit (death), O Lord my God.
- Isaiah 43:25“I, only I, am He who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.
- Psalms 10:2In pride and arrogance the wicked hotly pursue and persecute the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
- Psalms 85:2You have forgiven the wickedness of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah.
- Jeremiah 31:34And each man will no longer teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me [through personal experience], from the least of them to the greatest,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will no longer remember their sin.”
- Micah 7:18Who is a God like You, who forgives wickedness And passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He [constantly] delights in mercy and lovingkindness.
Commentaries on Isaiah 38:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17For peace I had great bitterness "My anguish is changed into ease" - מר לי מר mar li mar, "mutata mthi est amaritudo." Paronomasia; a figure which the prophet frequently admits. I do not always note it, because it cannot ever be preserved in the translation, and the sense seldom depends upon it. But here it perfectly clears up the great obscurity of the passage. See Lowth on the place. Thou hast rescued - חשכת chashachta, with כ caph, instead of ק koph…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-22Verses 9-22 We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving. It is well for us to remember the mercies we receive in sickness. Hezekiah records the condition he was in. He dwells upon this; I shall no more see the Lord. A good man wishes not to live for any other end than that he may serve God, and have communion with him. Our present residence is like that of a shepherd in his hut, a poor, mean, and cold lodging, and with a trust committed to our charge, as the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9-20Hezekiah’s poem includes both lament (Isaiah 38:9–14) and praise (38:15–20). The praise remains restrained until the final verse.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 9-209-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 38:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 38
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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