Isaiah 38 12

Isaiah 38:12 kjv

Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Isaiah 38:12 nkjv

My life span is gone, Taken from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.

Isaiah 38:12 niv

Like a shepherd's tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.

Isaiah 38:12 esv

My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;

Isaiah 38:12 nlt

My life has been blown away
like a shepherd's tent in a storm.
It has been cut short,
as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
Suddenly, my life was over.

Isaiah 38 verses

Isaiah 38 12 Meaning

King Hezekiah, facing a terminal illness, vividly expresses his deep anguish and perception of imminent death. He believes his life is being abruptly and entirely terminated by God, likening it to a shepherd's tent being quickly dismantled and his life's thread being cut short by a divine hand, ensuring his swift end from day to night.

Isaiah 38 12 Context

Isaiah 38 records King Hezekiah's prayer during a severe, life-threatening illness, as narrated by the prophet Isaiah. The chapter opens with Isaiah delivering God's message to Hezekiah: "Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live." (Isa 38:1). This verse (Isa 38:12) is part of Hezekiah's heartfelt lament, a deeply personal and anguished cry to God in response to this death sentence. It is a poetic expression of his feeling of utter vulnerability and the imminent termination of his life by divine decree. The historical background places this event either shortly before or after Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, highlighting a shift from national crisis to personal mortality. Hezekiah's distress underscores the powerlessness of even a king before the face of death and God's sovereign will.

Isaiah 38 12 Word analysis

• My age is departed, and is removed from me:

  • dōrî (My age / my life-span / my generation): dōr refers to a period of time, a generation, or an individual's lifespan. The suffix î denotes "my." Hezekiah sees his allotted time, his entire life course, being cut short.
  • nis'saʿ (is plucked up / torn away): A passive verb indicating forceful removal, often used for uprooting a tent or stake.
  • w'nis'lah (and is removed / rolled away / carried away): A complementary passive verb, emphasizing a complete and irreversible action of being taken away.
  • Significance: These words convey an experience of total, abrupt termination of his life, not a gradual decline but a forceful, divinely-orchestrated end to his entire allotted span.

• as a shepherd's tent:

  • k'ʾōhel rōʿeh (like a tent of a shepherd): k' (like/as), ʾōhel (tent), rōʿeh (shepherd).
  • Significance: Shepherds' tents are temporary and easily dismantled structures, intended for portability. This metaphor profoundly illustrates the transient, vulnerable, and impermanent nature of Hezekiah's earthly existence. He feels his life is being effortlessly and quickly packed away.

• I have cut off like a weaver my life:

  • qātsar'tî (I have cut off / I have cut short): First person singular, but often understood to mean 'my life has been cut short' or 'I perceive my life as cut short.' It implies a completed action of shortening.
  • k'ʾōrēg (like a weaver): k' (like/as), ʾōrēg (weaver).
  • ḥayyāy (my life / my days): The possessive plural for life, emphasizing all his days.
  • Significance: The weaver creates an intricate fabric (life) from threads. Cutting the thread ends the work prematurely. While grammatically "I have cut off," in the context of Hezekiah's lament, it expresses his understanding that his life (thread) is abruptly severed before its completion, possibly recognizing his passive role in the face of God's active hand.

• he will cut me off with pining sickness:

  • miydalōt yaqts'ṣēnēni (from/by wasting/pining sickness he will cut me off): miydalōt can mean 'from the warp' (continuing the weaving metaphor) or, more commonly, 'by pining sickness/languishing' in the context of his illness. yaqts'ṣēnēnî (He will cut me off / shorten me) – This shifts the agent definitively to God (he).
  • Significance: This phrase clarifies the active agent of his demise: God (He). It connects the "cutting off" explicitly to his debilitating, "pining" or wasting illness. The imagery moves from the thread of life to the method of its severance by divine will.

• from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me:

  • yōm wāllay'lâ (day and night): Expresses rapidity, completion within a single, short period.
  • tašlîmennî (you will make an end of me / you will bring me to completion): The verb šālam generally means "to be complete" or "to finish," but in this context it signifies bringing to a final, abrupt end, consuming his life entirely. tā indicates the agent is "thou" (God).
  • Significance: This emphasizes the swiftness, certainty, and completeness of his perceived end. It is not a prolonged suffering but a sudden, decisive action taken by God ("thou") to conclude his life rapidly.

Words-group Analysis

• "My age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent": This pairing vividly illustrates the transient and easily terminable nature of human life. The robust imagery of a sturdy tent post being violently torn from the ground and rolled away underscores Hezekiah's feeling of utter instability and rapid, forceful eviction from life. It's a perception not just of decay but of active, aggressive removal.

• "I have cut off... he will cut me off": This shift in subject, from the implied "I" perceiving or performing an action to the explicit "he" (God) actively "cutting," reveals the depth of Hezekiah's understanding. He both experiences his life as ending (as if he is witnessing the work completing) and acknowledges God as the sovereign force bringing about its abrupt conclusion. It highlights the dual perspective of personal anguish and theological submission.

• "with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me": These clauses firmly attribute the cause and swift execution of death to God. The debilitating "pining sickness" is identified as the means, and the timeframe ("day even to night") reinforces the sudden, uncompromising, and divinely ordained finality of his end, without reprieve.

Isaiah 38 12 Bonus section

• The raw imagery in this verse reflects the unfiltered despair common in biblical laments. It doesn't present a reasoned theological statement but an emotional outpouring of a suffering soul, recognizing divine agency even in seemingly cruel circumstances.
• The Hebrew verb šālam ("make an end of me") can imply bringing something to a completion or perfection. While grim in this context of death, it might subtly suggest a divine purpose even in cutting off life, or at least a finality that is beyond human interruption, as God is the one who completes all things.
• Hezekiah's subsequent prayer for healing (Isa 38:2-3) immediately after this verse underscores his unwavering belief in God's ability to intervene, even as he laments his perceived demise by divine hand. This paradoxical expression of both surrender to God's will to end life and fervent plea for its extension is central to the entire narrative of Isa 38.

Isaiah 38 12 Commentary

Isaiah 38:12 encapsulates King Hezekiah's profound lamentation and spiritual wrestling in the face of his declared death. Far from a passive acceptance, his language reflects an intense and active sense of being deliberately cut off by God. The use of "shepherd's tent" conjures the image of a temporary, easily disassembled dwelling, directly paralleling his transient life being dismantled. The "weaver" metaphor, with a life-thread abruptly severed, speaks to a purposeful interruption of his existence, before its natural course is run. Crucially, while he first uses the ambiguous "I have cut off" which reflects his personal observation, he then shifts to explicitly stating "He will cut me off," assigning full agency to God for his illness and impending death. This poignant confession acknowledges God's ultimate sovereignty over life and death, portraying Him not as a distant observer, but as the active initiator and finisher of Hezekiah's days, doing so swiftly and definitively "from day even to night." This is a raw, unvarnished expression of a man facing the finality of death, attributing his very mortality directly to his Maker's hand in that moment of despair.