Back to Isaiah 38

Isaiah 38:14-19

I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”

What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live.

Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.

The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”

    What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

    Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live.

    Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

    For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.

    The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children.

  • KJV King James Version

    Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

    What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

    O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

    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.

    For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

    The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.

    What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it; I shall go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.

    O Lord, by these things men live, and altogether therein is the life of my spirit; wherefore recover Thou me, and make me to live.

    Behold, for my 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.

    For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.

    The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (2)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

  • Is death final?
  • Does hell exist?

Explore Contradictions →

Cross-references (69)

  • Isaiah 43:25 (v17) I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
  • Deuteronomy 6:7 (v19) and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and…
  • Ecclesiastes 9:10 (vv18–19) Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are…
  • Isaiah 59:11 (v14) We all roar like bears and moan bitterly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us.
  • Jonah 2:6 (v17) I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.
Show all 68 cross-references
  • Micah 7:18-19 (v17) Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger…
  • Psalms 6:5 (v18) For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?
  • Psalms 30:9 (v18) “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
  • Psalms 69:3 (v14) I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.
  • Job 30:29 (v14) I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
  • Psalms 30:3 (v17) Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
  • Psalms 119:122-123 (v14) Ensure your servant’s well-being. Don’t let the proud oppress me. My eyes fail looking for your salvation, for your righteous word.
  • Psalms 123:1-4 (v14) I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a…
  • Jeremiah 31:34 (v17) They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they will all know me, from their…
  • Ezekiel 7:16 (v14) But those of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in…
  • Nahum 2:7 (v14) It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.
  • Job 17:3 (v14) “Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
  • Psalms 86:13 (v17) For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.
  • Psalms 102:4-7 (v14) My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my…
  • Psalms 119:82 (v14) My eyes fail for your word. I say, “When will you comfort me?”
  • Psalms 119:175 (v19) Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me.
  • Psalms 143:7 (v14) Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
  • Lamentations 4:17 (v14) Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
  • Deuteronomy 4:9 (v19) Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all…
  • 1 Kings 21:27 (v15) When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
  • Job 3:25-26 (v17) For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;…
  • Job 7:11 (v15) “Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
  • Psalms 30:6-7 (v17) As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you…
  • Psalms 40:2 (v17) He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
  • Psalms 78:3-6 (v19) Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come…
  • Psalms 85:2 (v17) You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin.
  • Psalms 88:10-11 (v18) Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your…
  • Psalms 115:17-18 (v18) The dead don’t praise Yah, neither any who go down into silence; but we will bless Yah, from this time forward and forever more. Praise Yah!
  • Genesis 18:19 (v19) For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do…
  • Exodus 12:26-27 (v19) It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s…
  • Exodus 13:14-15 (v19) It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand Yahweh brought…
  • Deuteronomy 11:19 (v19) You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when…
  • Joshua 4:21-22 (v19) He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’…
  • Job 29:18 (v17) Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand.
  • Psalms 10:2 (v17) In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
  • Psalms 88:4-6 (v17) I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help, set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the…
  • Psalms 118:17 (v19) I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works.
  • Psalms 145:4 (v19) One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.
  • Psalms 146:2 (v19) While I live, I will praise Yahweh. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.
  • Joel 1:3 (v19) Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.
  • Numbers 16:33 (v18) So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.
  • Job 10:1 (v15) “My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
  • Psalms 119:25 (v16) My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!
  • Matthew 4:4 (v16) But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’ ”
  • 1 Corinthians 11:32 (v16) But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
  • Hebrews 12:10-11 (v16) For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All…
  • Deuteronomy 8:3 (v16) He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach…
  • Joshua 7:8 (v15) Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies?
  • 1 Samuel 1:10 (v15) She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly.
  • 2 Kings 4:27 (v15) When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said,…
  • Ezra 9:10 (v15) “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,
  • Job 21:25 (v15) Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
  • Job 33:19-28 (v16) He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones, so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. His…
  • Psalms 39:9-10 (v15) I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it. Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
  • Proverbs 14:32 (v18) The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
  • Isaiah 64:5 (v16) You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been…
  • Matthew 8:12 (v18) but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
  • Matthew 25:46 (v18) These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
  • Luke 16:26-31 (v18) Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no…
  • John 9:4 (v19) I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
  • John 12:27 (v15) “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause.
  • Psalms 71:20 (v16) You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
  • 2 Corinthians 4:17 (v16) For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,

68 distinct cross-references across this passage (69 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (19 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14–19 To wit, sorrow and grief both of the body…

To wit, sorrow and grief both of the body and mind.

I was so oppressed with sorrow, that I was not able to utter my words, but only to groan and sigh.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–19 Isa 38:14 Like a crane [or] a swallow, so…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv14–19 Like a crane or a swallow; or, a crane…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv14–19 What shall I say?.... In a way of praise…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 By these - By thy promises, and thy performance…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 17, 19 Verse 14. Like-a swallow - "Like the swallow"] כסיס…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Isa 38:15. What shall I say? — I want…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv14–19 Like a crane - The word used here (סוּס…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv14, 18 For me. He represents his disease, as an inexorable…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv14–19 Rather, "Like a swallow, or a crane" (from a…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv14–19 14. Like a crane or a swallow, so did…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–19 14. Like a crane or a swallow] Rather, as…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–19 (14) Like a crane . . .—The three birds—strictly,…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14–19 Like a crane or a swallow. The sus, here…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14–19 I did mourn as a dove
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Isa_38:14. O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v18 grave Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 16, 18 General Information:
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15–16 38:15 I will walk humbly: Hezekiah might have previously…
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