Discovery BoxIsaiah 38:16 
Context38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;
may years of life be restored to me. 1
Restore my health 2 and preserve my life.’
Isaiah 42:4
Context42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed 3
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands 4 will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 5
1 tn The translation offered here is purely speculative. The text as it stands is meaningless and probably corrupt. It reads literally, “O lord, on account of them [the suffix is masculine plural], they live, and to all in them [the suffix is feminine plural], life of my spirit.”
2 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as indicative, “you restore my health,” but the following imperatival form suggests it be understood as an imperfect of request.
3 tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.
4 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
5 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
