Bible Strands
Isaiah 38:13
I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses God during a prolonged terminal illness, recounting his suffering after receiving a death sentence and a subsequent extension of life. He speaks as one whose existence is being systematically dismantled by divine action.
The words — The Hebrew שִׁוִּיתִי (shi.Vi.ti) literally means "I have lain down" or composed myself, while עַצְמוֹתָ֑/י (atz.mo.Ta/i) translates to "my bones." These terms ground the speaker's physical exhaustion in the concrete reality of bodily affliction.
The thread — The lion imagery parallels the fatal encounter in 1 Kings 13:24 and the den of lions in Daniel 6:24, while the motif of crushed bones reappears in Psalms 51:8. These texts trace a consistent biblical pattern of violent affliction and divine discipline.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of human fragility when confronted with sovereign judgment. It requires the reader to acknowledge that prolonged suffering is not hidden from God, who remains the direct agent of its duration and end.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Cross-references
- Psalms 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
- Daniel 6:24 At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
- 1 Kings 13:24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
- Job 10:16 Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
- Job 16:12 I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
- Psalms 39:10 Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.
- Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
- Hosea 5:14 For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.
- 1 Corinthians 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
- 1 Kings 20:36 Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him.