Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 38:12

"My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd`s tent: I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the loom: From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me." — Isaiah 38:12 (ASV)

Mine age is departed ... —Better, my home, or habitation ... as in Psalm 49:19, and thus fitting in better with the comparison that follows. The “home” is, of course, the body, as the dwelling-place of the spirit. (Compare to Psalm 52:5, hurl thee away tentless, Heb., and Job 21:28, Is not their tent-cord torn away? Heb.) The “shepherd’s tent” is the symbol of a temporary home (2 Corinthians 5:1–4).

I have cut off like a weaver my life ... —The words express the feeling of one who had been weaving the web of his life with varied plans and purposes , and now had to roll it up, as finished before its time, because Jehovah had taken up the “abhorred shears” to cut it from the thrum, which takes the place of “with pining sickness.” There is, perhaps, a tone of reverence in the impersonal form of the statement. The sufferer will not name Jehovah as the author of his trouble.

From day even to night. —The words speak of the rapidity rather than of the lengthening of suffering. The sick man expects that death will come before tomorrow’s dawn.