God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 38:17
17Now my bitter experience turns into peace. You have saved me and kept me from the rotting pit. You have thrown all my sins behind you.
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
15What can I say now that he has spoken to me? He has done this. I will be careful the rest of my life because of my bitter experience. 16Lord, people live in spite of such things, and I have the will to live in spite of them. You give me health and keep me alive. Now my bitter experience turns into peace. You have saved me and kept me from the rotting pit. You have thrown all my sins behind you. 18Sheol doesn’t thank you! Death doesn’t praise you! Those who go down to the pit cannot expect you to be faithful. 19Those who are living praise you as I do today. Fathers make your faithfulness known to their children.
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 3:25What I fear most overtakes me. What I dread happens to me.
- Job 29:18“I thought, ‘I may die in my own house, but I will make my days as numerous as the sand.
- Psalms 30:6When all was well with me, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
- Psalms 30:3O Lord, you brought me up from the grave. You called me back to life from among those who had gone into the pit.
- Psalms 40:2He pulled me out of a horrible pit, out of the mud and clay. He set my feet on a rock and made my steps secure.
- Psalms 86:13because your mercy toward me is great. You have rescued me from the depths of hell.
- Psalms 88:4I am numbered with those who go into the pit. I am like a man without any strength—
- Jonah 2:6I sank to the foot of the mountains. I sank to the bottom, where bars held me forever. But you brought me back from the pit, O Lord, my God.
- Isaiah 43:25I alone am the one who is going to wipe away your rebellious actions for my own sake. I will not remember your sins ⌞anymore⌟.
- Psalms 10:2The wicked person arrogantly pursues oppressed people. He will be caught in the schemes that he planned.
- Psalms 85:2You removed your people’s guilt. You pardoned all their sins. Selah
- Jeremiah 31:34No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the Lord, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”
- Micah 7:18Who is a God like you? You forgive sin and overlook the rebellion of your faithful people. You will not be angry forever, because you would rather show mercy.
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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