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 what is 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 be 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 am to enter the gates of Sheol; I am to be 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 is 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 am oppressed, be 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 is 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; It is You who has 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 "It is the living who 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 is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?" |