perhaps properly · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular
spoken
וְאָֽמַרve.'a.mar-
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
done
עָשָׂ֑ה'a.Sah
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
softly
אֶדַּדֶּ֥ה'ed.da.Deh
H1718
to walk gently · verb, hithpael imperfect, 1st person common singular
years
שְׁנוֹתַ֖יshe.no.Tai
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
bitterness
מַ֥רmar
H4751
bitter (literally or figuratively) · adjective, masculine singular construct
soul
נַפְשִֽׁיnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 21:27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackclo…
Job 7:11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Joshua 7:8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
1 Samuel 1:10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.
2 Kings 4:27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God sai…
Ezra 9:10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
Job 21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 38:9–end
We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song, which he penned, by divine direction, after his recovery. He might have taken some of the psalms of his father David, and made use of them for his purpose; he might have found many very pertinent ones. He appointed the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, Ch2 29:30. But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he had, though of divine inspiration, but would offer up his affections in his own words, which is most natural and genuine. He put this thanksgiving in writing, that he might review it himself afterwards, for the reviving of the good im…
The second part of the song passes from prayer to thanksgiving at the prayer being heard.
What shall I say?--the language of one at a loss for words to express his sense of the unexpected deliverance.
both spoken . . . and . . . done it-- (Num 23:19). Both promised and performed (Th1 5:24; Heb 10:23).
himself--No one else could have done it (Psa 98:1).
go softly . . . in the bitterness--rather, "on account of the bitterness"; I will behave myself humbly in remembrance of my past sorrow and sickness from which I have been delivered by God's mercy (see Kg1 21:27, Kg1 21:29). In Psa 42:4, the same Hebrew verb expresses the slow and solemn gait of one going up to the house of God; it is…
What shall I say?.... In a way of praise and thankfulness, for the mercies promised and received; I know not what to say; I want words to express the gratitude of my heart for the kindness bestowed. What shall I render to God for all his benefits? So the Targum,
"what praise shall I utter, and I will say it before him?''
for here begins the account of his recovery, and his thanksgiving for it:
he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it; the Lord had sent him a message by the prophet, and assured him that he should recover, and on the third day go up to the temple; and now he had performed what he had promised, he was restored, and was come to the house of God with his thank off…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 15.) Like the chick of a swallow, so will I cry out: I will meditate as a dove: My eyes are weakened looking towards the height. Lord, I suffer violence; answer for me: what shall I say or what shall he answer me when he himself has done? LXX: Like a swallow, thus will I cry out; like a dove, thus will I meditate. For my eyes have failed from looking towards the height of heaven to the Lord: who delivers me, took away the pain of my soul, and he himself did it. Death was imminent, and the pain of illness weighing upon me, like a lion, was breaking all the bones of my body; but I, like a swallow and a dove, joined together day and night with weeping and moaning; and from God alone, who was able to help, I waited for assistance, with my eyes lifted up to the heights. And I said to him: I suffer more than my merits require; but even if I have gone astray, I will turn to the better; you answer for me: For it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy (Rom. 9:16). And it turns back again into itself: What can I say, or with what can I argue against my Creator? Or what will he answer to me, he who did himself what he wanted? Therefore, whatever he decides must be endured. The word for swallow, or swallow, as translated by the LXX, is written in Hebrew, Sus Agor (), which Aquila interpreted as horse Agor: Theodotius, Sis Agur (); for the middle vocal letter vau, if placed between two Samechs, is read as pig, and is called horse; if yod, it is read as swallow. However, Symmachus translated it as follows: As a swallow enclosed, so will I sing. This word is also found in Jeremiah, where it is written: The kite in the sky knew its time: the turtle-dove, and the swallow, and the stork kept their times (Jeremiah VIII, 7).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Hezekiah · .His psalm of thanksgiving — .His psalm of thanksgiving
Humility · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Murmuring · .Hezekiah — .Hezekiah
Sickness · Saints: Acknowledge that, comes from God — Saints: Acknowledge that, comes from God
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
What shall I say? This is generally supposed to be an exclamation, such as frequently bursts forth in a season of joy, as if he congratulated himself on having already obtained his wish. But I think differently. Hezekiah appears to proceed in his complaints; for he speaks as men commonly do when they are overcome by grief; "What shall I say? for he who said it hath also done it;" that is, "life and death are in his hand; it is useless for me to argue or contend with him; it is useless for me to complain." In the book of Job also words and sayings of this sort are often found. (Job 7:4.) I think that this is the true meaning; for Hezekiah previously looked around on all sides to see if any as…
In strophe 3 he now describes how Jehovah promised him help, how this promise put new life into him, and how it was fulfilled, and turned his sufferings into salvation.
"What shall I say, that He promised me, and He hath carried it out:
I should walk quietly all my years, on the trouble of my soul?!
'O Lord, by such things men revive, and the life of my spirit is always therein:
And so wilt Thou restore me, and make me to live!'
Behold, bitterness became salvation to me, bitterness;
And Thou, Thou hast delivered my soul in love out of the pit of destruction
For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back."
The question, "What shall I say?" is to be understood as in Sa2 7:20, viz., Wha…
I will walk humbly: Hezekiah might have previously taken his life and good health for granted. Now he recognized that these gifts from the Lord can be withdrawn at any time.
Rashi on Isaiah 38:15
What shall I speak praise and adoration before Him? Behold He promised me consolations, and He fulfilled them.
I will cause all my sleep to flee Comp. (Gen. 31:40) “And my sleep fled.” Jonathan renders שְׁנוֹתַי as an expression of years.
concerning the bitterness of my soul which was bitter, and You consoled me.
