The interpretation timeline

Isa 38:19

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

2 Jewish · 2 Reformed

Isa 38:19 · Douay-Rheims
“The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do this day: the father shall make thy truth known to the children.”
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
Rashi Jewish
1040–1105
“The living, the living This is an expression denoting living people; i.e., when they are living people in the world, this one is living and this one is living, thanksgiving emanates from between them. [Other editions: A living one to a living one You are living, and it is proper to give thanksgiving to a living one.] inform enseigner in French, to teach. of Your truth (lit., to your truth.) The father informs and directs his son’s thoughts to Your truth, to believe in You.”
Source
1167
A.D.
Ibn Ezra Jewish
1089–1167
“The living, the living. The word חי living is repeated as if to say he who is living, as I do, or he who has recovered from illness. Shall praise thee, shall give thanks in words, in which soul and body appear to unite. According to some the first חי refers to God; but there is no necessity for this assumption. Thy truth. These acts of truth.”
Source
604 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1771
A.D.
John Gill Reformed
1697–1771
“The Lord was ready to save me,.... Or, "the Lord to save me (y)"; he was at hand to save him; he was both able and willing to save him; he was a present help in time of need; he arose for his help, and that right early; he very quickly delivered him out of his distress; he, who one day expected death every moment, was the next day in the temple praising God: therefore will we sing my songs; which were made by him, or concerning him, or which he ordered to be sung, as he did the Psalms of David, Ch2 29:30, to the stringed instruments: which were touched with the fingers, or struck with a quill or bow; which distinguishes them from wind instruments, which were blown with the mouth; each of these were used in the temple service: all the days of our life; he had before said "we will sing", meaning his family and his friends with him, his courtiers, princes, and nobles, or he and the singers of Israel; and this he determined to do as long as he and they lived; signifying, that the mercy granted would never be forgotten by him, as well as there would be new mercies every day, which would call for praise and thankfulness: and this he proposed to do in the house of the Lord; in the temple; not only privately, but publicly; not in his closet and family only, but in the congregation of the people; that the goodness of God to him might be more known, and the praise and glory given him be the greater. (y) "Dominus ad servandum me", Montanus; "Jehova est ad salvandum me", Cocceius, Vitringa.”
Source
1871
A.D.
1871
“living . . . living--emphatic repetition, as in Isa 38:11, Isa 38:17; his heart is so full of the main object of his prayer that, for want of adequate words, he repeats the same word. father to the children--one generation of the living to another. He probably, also, hints at his own desire to live until he should have a child, the successor to his throne, to whom he might make known and so perpetuate the memory of God's truth. truth--faithfulness to His promises; especially in Hezekiah's case, His promise of hearing prayer.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.