Isaiah 38:10

Old Testament Major Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Isaiah 38:10 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
Isaiah 38:10 — American Standard Version

Context — Isaiah 38

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
10I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“I said, in the cutting off of my days, &c.] When he was told that he should die, and he believed he should; this he calls a “cutting off” in allusion to the weaver’s web, (<233812>Isaiah 38:12) and a cutting off “his days”, he being now in the prime of his age, about thirty nine or forty years of age, and not arrived to the common period of life, and to which, according to his constitution, and the course of nature, he might have attained. The Jews call such a death a cutting off, that is, by the hand of God, which is before a man is fifty years of age. The Vulgate Latin version is, “in the midst of my days”; as it was, according to the common term of life, being threescore and ten, and at…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“cutting off--ROSENMULLER translates, "the meridian"; when the sun stands in the zenith: so "the perfect day" (Pro 4:18). Rather, "in the tranquillity of my days," that is, that period of life when I might now look forward to a tranquil reign [MAURER]. The Hebrew is so translated (Isa 62:6-7). go to--rather, "go into," as in Isa 46:2 [MAURER]. residue of my years--those which I had calculated on. God sends sickness to teach man not to calculate on the morrow, but to live more wholly to God, as if each day were the last.”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“I said - Probably the words ‘I said’ do not imply that he said or spoke this openly or audibly; but this was the language of his heart, or the substance of his reflections. In the cutting off of my days - There has been considerable diversity of interpretation in regard to this phrase. Vitringa renders it as our translators have done. Rosenmuller renders it, ‘In the meridian of my days.’ The Septuagint, Ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἡμερῶν μου En tō hupsei tōn hēmerōn mou - ‘In the height of my days,’ where they evidently read ברמי instead of בדמי, by the change of a single letter. Aquila, and the Greek interpreters generally, rendered it, ‘In the silence of my days.’ The word used here in…”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · Modern study notes
“38:10 enter the place of the dead? (literally enter the gates of Sheol?): This image comes from an ancient idea that people enter death through gates (see 14:9). Old Testament believers did not understand the afterlife as the New Testament reveals it. It was a shadowy place where all the dead were together and where no praise of God existed (see 38:18; Pss 88:10; 115:17).”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“Isa 38:1; Job 6:11, Job 7:7, Job 17:11-16; Co2 1:9 Isaiah 38:11”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“Strophe 1 consists indisputably of seven lines: "I said, In quiet of my days shall I depart into the gates of Hades: I am mulcted of the rest of my years. I said, I shall not see Jah, Jah, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more, with the inhabitants of the regions of the dead. My home is broken up, and is carried off from me like a shepherd's tent: I rolled up my life like a weaver; He would have cut me loose from the roll: From day to night Thou makest an end of me." "In quiet of my days" is equivalent to, in the midst of the quiet course of a healthy life, and is spoken without reference to the Assyrian troubles, which still continued. דּמי, from דּמה, to be quiet, lit., to…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification