38:12 My dwelling place 1 is removed and taken away 2 from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; 3
from the loom he cuts me off. 4
You turn day into night and end my life. 5
38:15 What can I say?
He has decreed and acted. 6
I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. 7
38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me, 8
and we will celebrate with music 9
for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” 10
1 tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.
2 tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”
3 tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).
4 sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.
5 tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”
6 tn Heb “and he has spoken and he has acted.”
7 tn Heb “because of the bitterness of my soul.”
8 tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.
9 tn Heb “and music [or perhaps, “stringed instruments”] we will play.”
10 tn Heb “all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”
sn Note that vv. 21-22 have been placed between vv. 6-7, where they logically belong. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.