Was Isaiah loved 'from the pit', Isaiah 38:17?

Question

I noticed that the KJV gives Isaiah 38:17 as :

... thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption ... [KJV]

in which the addition, in italics, changes the meaning considerably. In the margin of the KJV is the following :

[Heb.] thou hast loved my soul from the pit ... [KJV margin]

with which Green's Literal appears to agree :

... You loved my soul from the pit of destruction ... [GIB]

However Robert Young gives a completely different rendering from either of the above, as follows :

... thou hast delighted in my soul without corruption ... [YLT]

in which he employs no italics at all.

---

I can understand why the KJV margin and Green's translation could well be the real meaning, regarding the descent of Messiah into sheol :

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption [Psalm 16:10, KJV]

Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? [Ephesians 4:9, KJV.]

But I would like to see the text of Isaiah 38:17 confirmed before drawing the inference.

Can anyone shed light on this passage from the original Hebrew ?

Answer 1

Gesenius

Gesenius¹ originally explained the phrase וְאַתָּה חָשַׁקְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִשַּׁחַת בְּלִי in Isa. 38:17 as an example of a pregnant construction.²

Mit prägnanter Construction Jes. 38,17: חָשַׁקְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִשַּׁחַת בְּלִי du liebtest mich (und zogst mich) aus der Grube des Verderbens.

with a pregnant construction [in] Isa. 38:17: חָשַׁקְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִשַּׁחַת בְּלִי You loved me (and drew me) out of the pit of doom.

According to Oxford English Dictionary,³

pregnant construction: n. Grammar and Rhetoric a construction in which more is implied than is expressed by the words.

HALOT

According to HALOT,⁴ חָשַׁקְתָּ in Isa. 38:17 should be read as חָשַׁכְתָּ (chashakhta), “you darkened,” a conjugation of the verb חָשַׁךְ (chashakh).⁵

The Dead Sea Scrolls—1QIsa1 Scroll

Although there are minor textual variants when compared to the Masoretic text, there is no substantial difference. Both manuscripts (M and 1QIsa1) contain חָשַׁקְתָּ (or its equivalent).⁶

The idea of a pregnant construction is supported by commentaries. McComiskey writes,⁷

---

Footnotes

¹ Gesenius (German, 1st ed.), p. 343–344, חָשַׁק
² OED online, “pregnant construction”
³ Latin constructio pregnans
⁴ Frankly, I may be misunderstanding HALOT; I also do not understand the basis for their assertion.
⁵ On חָשַׁךְ (chasakh), see Gesenius (tr. Tregelles), p. 312 (CCCXII); HALOT, p. 361.
⁶ The scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls had a propensity for suffixing ה to words ending in /a/.
⁷ McComiskey, p. 149

References

Gesenius, Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm. Gesenius’s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. Trans. Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux. London: Bagster, 1860.

Gesenius, Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm. Hebräisch–Deutsches Handwörterbuch über die Schriften des Alten Testaments. Vol. 1. 1st ed. Leipzig: Vogel, 1810.

Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter. A Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Trans. Richardson, M. E. J. Ed. Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob. Leiden: Brill, 2002.

McComiskey, Thomas Edward. The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009.

The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls (http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/)