38:1   In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, ' Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"

38:2  Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

38:3  and said, " Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done good in Your sight " And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

38:4  Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,

38:5  "Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

38:6  "I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city."'

38:7  "This shall serve as the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken:

38:8  "Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps " So the sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

38:9  A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

38:10  I said, " In the middle of my life I will enter the gates of Sheol; I will become deprived of the rest of my years."

38:11  I said, "I will not see the LORD, The LORD in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

38:12  "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling has become pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.

38:13  "I composed my soul until morning. Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me.

38:14  " Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I feel oppressed, I acknowledge you as my security.

38:15  " What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

38:16  "O Lord, by these things men live, And in all these consists the life of my spirit; O restore me to health and let me live!

38:17  "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; You have kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

38:18  "For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

38:19  " The living give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.

38:20  "The LORD will surely save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."

38:21  Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."

38:22  Then Hezekiah had said, "What will you provide as the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"