Isaiah Chapter 38 verse 21 Holy Bible
Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.
read chapter 38 in ASV
And Isaiah said, Let them take a cake of figs, and put it on the diseased place, and he will get well.
read chapter 38 in BBE
Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.
read chapter 38 in DARBY
For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
read chapter 38 in KJV
read chapter 38 in WBT
Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster on the boil, and he shall recover.
read chapter 38 in WEB
And Isaiah saith, `Let them take a bunch of figs, and plaster over the ulcer, and he liveth.'
read chapter 38 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 21. - For Isaiah had said; literally, and Isaiah said. It seems as if this verse and the next had been accidentally omitted from their proper place in the narrative, which was between vers. 6 and 7, and had then been appended by an after-thought. They reproduce nearly, but not exactly, the words of 2 Kings 19:7, 8. Let them take a lump of figs. This remedy is said to be one still employed in the East for the cure of ordinary boils; but it must have been quite insufficient for the cure of such a dangerous tumour, or carbuncle, as that from which Hezekiah was suffering. In miraculous cures, both the Old Testament prophets and our Lord himself frequently employed a means, insufficient in itself, but supernaturally rendered sufficient, to effect the intended purpose (see 1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:35, 41, 5:14; John 9:6; Mark 7:33; Mark 8:23, etc.). Upon the boil. The term here translated "boil" is used in Exodus (Exodus 9:9-11) for the affliction which constituted the sixth plague, in Leviticus (Leviticus 13:18-23) for an ulcer accompanying one of the worst forms of leprosy, in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 28:27, 35) for "the botch of Egypt," and in Job (Job 2:7) for the last of the visitations from which he suffered. It is not unlikely that it was of a leprous character.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(21) For Isaiah had said . . .--The direction implies some medical training on the part of Isaiah (see Note on Isaiah 1:6, and Introduction), such as entered naturally into the education of the prophet-priests. They were to Israel, especially in the case of leprosy and other kindred diseases, what the priests of Asclepios were to Greece. The Divine promise guaranteed success to the use of natural remedies, but did not dispense with them, and they, like the spittle laid on the eyes of the blind in the Gospel miracles (Mark 7:33, John 9:6), were also a help to the faith on which the miracle depended. Both this and the following verse seem, as has been said, to have been notes to Isaiah 38:8, supplied from the narrative of 2 Kings 20, and placed at the end of the chapter instead of at the foot of the page, as in modern MSS. or print. The word for "boil" appears in connection with leprosy in Exodus 9:9, Leviticus 13:18, but is used generically for any kind of abscess, carbuncle, and the like. (Comp. Job 2:7.) . . .
