Isaiah 38:17

Forgiveness Salvation Sin Guilt and conscience

¹⁵ What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

¹⁶ O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live.

Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

¹⁸ For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

¹⁹ The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
KJV: Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
WEB: Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
ASV: Behold, [it was] for [my] peace [that] I had great bitterness: But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
DARBY: Behold, instead of peace I had bitterness upon bitterness; but thou hast in love delivered my soul from the pit of destruction; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
BLB: Behold, for my wellbeing great bitterness [was] unto me; and You have held back my soul from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast behind Your back all my sins.

ÅB: Se, til fred ble meg det bitre, ja det bitre, og kjærlig dro du min sjel opp av tilintetgjørelsens grav; for du kastet alle mine synder bak din rygg.
OTB: Sannelig var det til min fordel at jeg led slik bitterhet. I din kjærlighet har du holdt meg fra ødeleggelsens grav; du har kastet alle mine synder bak din rygg.
B1930: Se, til fred blev mig det bitre, ja det bitre, og kjærlig drog du min sjel op av tilintetgjørelsens grav; for du kastet alle mine synder bak din rygg.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Read in context
Micah 7:18–19
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
Read in context
Jonah 2:6
To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
Read in context
Psalms 30:3
O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.
Read in context
Jeremiah 31:34
No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”
Read in context
Psalms 86:13
For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.
Read in context
Job 3:25–26
For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.
Read in context
Psalms 30:6–7
In prosperity I said, “I will never be shaken.”
Read in context