Isaiah 38:17
New International Version
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.

New Living Translation
Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins.

English Standard Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

King James Bible
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 King James Version
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.

New American Standard Bible
“Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; But You have kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have hurled all my sins behind Your back.

NASB 1995
“Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

NASB 1977
“Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is Thou who hast kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, for my own well-being I had great bitterness; But it is You who has held back my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Amplified Bible
“Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness; But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction), For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Christian Standard Bible
Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such intense bitterness; but your love has delivered me from the Pit of destruction, for you have thrown all my sins behind your back.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Indeed, it was for my own welfare that I had such great bitterness; but Your love has delivered me from the Pit of destruction, for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.

American Standard Version
Behold, it was for my peace that 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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Behold, compared to peace, bitterness was bitter to me, and you were pleased with my soul that it will not be consumed by corruption, because you have cast behind your body all my sins

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For thou hast chosen my soul, that it should not perish: and thou hast cast all my sins behind me.

Contemporary English Version
It was for my own good that I had such hard times. But your love protected me from doom in the deep pit, and you turned your eyes away from my sins.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou best delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

English Revised Version
Behold, it was for my peace that 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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
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.

Good News Translation
My bitterness will turn into peace. You save my life from all danger; You forgive all my sins.

International Standard Version
Yes, it was for my own good that I suffered extreme anguish. But in love you have held back my life from the Pit in which it has been confined; you have tossed all my sins behind your back.

JPS Tanakh 1917
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.

Literal Standard Version
Behold, He changed bitterness to peace for me, | And You have delighted in my soul without corruption, | For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Majority Standard Bible
Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

New American Bible
Peace in place of bitterness! You have preserved my life from the pit of destruction; Behind your back you cast all my sins.

NET Bible
"Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. You delivered me from the pit of oblivion. For you removed all my sins from your sight.

New Revised Standard Version
Surely it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but you have held back my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

New Heart English Bible
Look, 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.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
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.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, to peace He changed for me bitterness, And Thou hast delighted in my soul without corruption, For Thou hast cast behind Thy back all my sins.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Hezekiah's Song of Thanksgiving
16O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live. 17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.…

Cross References
Job 33:24
to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,'

Psalm 30:3
O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.

Psalm 55:23
But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

Psalm 86:13
For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Isaiah 38:15
What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.


Treasury of Scripture

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

for peace I had great bitterness.

Job 3:25,26
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me…

Job 29:18
Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

Psalm 30:6,7
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved…

Psalm 30:3
O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Psalm 40:2
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Psalm 86:13
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

thou hast cast

Isaiah 43:25
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Psalm 10:2
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

Psalm 85:2
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

Jump to Previous
Anguish Benefit Bitter Bitterness Cast Corruption Delivered Destruction Great Held Instead Kept Love Memory Nothingness Peace Pit Sins Soul Suffered Surely Underworld Welfare
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Anguish Benefit Bitter Bitterness Cast Corruption Delivered Destruction Great Held Instead Kept Love Memory Nothingness Peace Pit Sins Soul Suffered Surely Underworld Welfare
Isaiah 38
1. Hezekiah, having received a message of death, by prayer has his life lengthened
8. The sun goes ten degrees backward, for a sign of that promise
9. His song of thanksgiving.














(17) For peace I had great bitterness . . .--The words in the Authorised Version read like a retrospect of the change from health to suffering. Really, they express the very opposite. It was for my peace (i.e., for my salvation, in the fullest sense of the word) that it was bitter, was bitter unto me (emphasis of iteration). All things were now seen as "working together for good."

Thou hast in love to my soul . . .--The italics show that the verbs "delivered it "are not in the present Hebrew text. A slight change, such as might be made to correct an error of transcription, would give that meaning, but as it stands, we have the singularly suggestive phrase, Thou hast loved me out of the pit of corruption. The very love of Jehovah is thought of as ipso facto a deliverance.

Thou hast cast all my sins . . .--As in our Lord's miracles, the bodily healing was the pledge and earnest of the spiritual. "Arise and walk" guaranteed, "Thy sins be forgiven thee" (Matthew 9:2-5). (For the symbols of that forgiveness, comp. Micah 7:19.)

Verse 17. - Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; rather, behold, it was for my peace that I had such bitterness, such bitterness. The pain that I underwent was for the true peace and comfort of my soul (comp. Psalm 94:12; Psalm 119:75; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:5-11). Thou hast in love, etc.; literally, thou hast loved my soul back from the pit of destruction - as if God's love, beaming on the monarch's soul, had drawn it back from the edge of the pit (comp. Hosea 11:4, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love"). For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Where they could be no more seen, and therefore would be no more remembered (comp. Micah 7:19; Psalm 25:7; Psalm 79:8; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 64:9, etc.). Hezekiah, though lately he protested his integrity (ver. 3). did not mean to say that he was sinless, lie knew that he had sinned; he regarded his sins as having brought down upon him the sentence of death; as God has revoked the sentence, he knows that he has pardoned his sins and put them away from his remembrance.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Surely,
הִנֵּ֥ה (hin·nêh)
Interjection
Strong's 2009: Lo! behold!

for my welfare
לְשָׁל֖וֹם (lə·šā·lō·wm)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7965: Safe, well, happy, friendly, welfare, health, prosperity, peace

I had such great anguish;
מַר־ (mar-)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 4751: Bitter, bitterness, bitterly

but Your
וְאַתָּ֞ה (wə·’at·tāh)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

love
חָשַׁ֤קְתָּ (ḥā·šaq·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2836: To cling, join, to love, delight in, elliptically, to deliver

has delivered me
נַפְשִׁי֙ (nap̄·šî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

from the pit
מִשַּׁ֣חַת (miš·ša·ḥaṯ)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7845: A pit, destruction

of oblivion,
בְּלִ֔י (bə·lî)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1097: Failure, nothing, destruction, without, not yet, because not, as long as

for
כִּ֥י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

You have cast
הִשְׁלַ֛כְתָּ (hiš·laḵ·tā)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 7993: To throw out, down, away

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

my sins
חֲטָאָֽי׃ (ḥă·ṭā·’āy)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 2399: A crime, its penalty

behind
אַחֲרֵ֥י (’a·ḥă·rê)
Preposition
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

Your back.
גֵוְךָ֖ (ḡê·wə·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1460: The back, the middle


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 38:17 Behold for peace I had great anguish (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 38:16
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