What Does Isaiah 38:15 Mean in the King James?
What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse joins a spoken word to a completed act, then shows bitterness still pacing the whole living self through every year.
THE MEANING
There are moments when little can be said: what is spoken has also been done. The living self still walks through its years with bitterness, at a measured pace; the verse lets that cost remain present instead of claiming it has passed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If God has spoken and acted, your bitterness must already be gone.
THE ROOT
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נ־פ־שׁ
n-p-sh
The word names a living being, person, or self; a related verb means to be refreshed.
Nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh: living soul) names the living person, not a detachable inner part. So the bitterness reaches the person moving through the years, it is part of lived existence, not an abstract feeling set apart from it.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living being, person, or self.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the word Isaiah uses for “my soul”; it makes the bitterness a condition of the living person.
naphash: To be refreshed or restored.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb also speaks of the living self’s condition; here the verse names bitterness as what remains present through the years.
מַר
mar
GROWS FROM
מ־ר־ר
To be bitter, become bitter, or make bitter.
The root holds bitterness as something tasted and lived, not merely a vague sadness. Here that bitterness belongs to the living self and continues across the years.
ALSO GROWS
merorim: Bitter herbs.
מְרֹרִים
The same root names bitterness as a taste, giving the verse’s inner bitterness a concrete, felt quality.
vayemararu: They made bitter.
וַיְמָרֲרוּ
This form describes making life bitter; it echoes the verse’s bitterness as something that marks lived experience.
אֲדַבֵּר
adabber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
To speak or utter; the related noun also means a word, matter, or thing.
“say” in this verse is adabber. The Hebrew opens with אֲדַבֵּר (adabber, “shall I speak?”), then uses אָמַר (amar, “he said”) for what God has spoken. The English makes them sound like one repeated idea; Hebrew sets the speaker’s question beside God’s direct word, and the d-b-r family also connects speech with a concrete matter.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The same root links speaking with what is said or at issue, keeping the verse’s word concrete.
medabber: Speaking; one who speaks.
מְדַבֵּר
This related form keeps the act of speaking in view beside the question of what can be said.
THE PATTERN
Bitterness can inhabit the living self, remain known over time, and take root beyond one person.
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;THE THREAD
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.Both verses join מַר (mar, bitter) with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, living soul). Here the bitterness enters prayer; in Isaiah it sets the pace of years, showing the same living self naming and carrying what is bitter.
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