Isaiah 38

1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

And it came to pass at that time, [that] Ezekias was sick even to death. And Esaias the prophet the son of Amos came to him, and said to him, Thus saith the Lord, Give orders concerning thy house: for thou shalt die, and not live.

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

And Ezekias turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,

3 saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, with a true heart, and have done that which was pleasing in thy sight. And Ezekias wept bitterly.

4 And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,

And the word of the Lord came to Esaias, saying, Go, and say to Ezekias,

5 “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears: behold, I [will] add to thy time fifteen years.

6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians: and I will defend this city.

7 This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:

And this [shall be] a sign to thee from the Lord, that God will do this thing;

8 I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.

behold, I will turn back the shadow of the degrees [of the dial] by which ten degrees on the house of thy father the sun has gone down—I will turn back the sun the ten degrees; so the sun went back the ten degrees by which the shadow had gone down.

9 This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

THE PRAYER OF EZEKIAS KING OF JUDEA, WHEN HE HAD BEEN SICK, AND WAS RECOVERED FROM HIS SICKNESS.

10 I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.” (Sheol h7585)

I said in the end of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I shall part with the remainder of my years. (Sheol h7585)

11 I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world.

I said, I shall no more at all see the salvation of God in the land of the living: I shall no more at all see the salvation of Israel on the earth: I shall no more at all see man.

12 My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me.

[My life] has failed from among my kindred: I have parted with the remainder of my life: it has gone forth and departed from me, as one that having pitched a tent takes it down [again]: my breath was with me as a weaver's web, when she that weaves draws nigh to cut off [the] thread.

13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

In that day I was given up as to a lion until the morning: so has he broken all my bones: for I was so given up from day [even] to night.

14 I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

As a swallow, so will I cry, and as a dove, so do I mourn: for mine eyes have failed with looking to the height of heaven to the Lord, who has delivered me, and removed the sorrow of my soul.

15 What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

16 O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live.

[Yea], O Lord, for it was told thee concerning this; and thou hast revived my breath; and I am comforted, and live.

17 Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

For thou hast chosen my soul, that it should not perish: and thou hast cast all [my] sins behind me.

18 For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. (Sheol h7585)

For they that are in the grave shall not praise thee, neither shall the dead bless thee, neither shall they that are in Hades hope for thy mercy. (Sheol h7585)

19 The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

The living shall bless thee, as I also [do]: for from this day shall I beget children, who shall declare thy righteousness,

20 The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.

O God of my salvation; and I will not cease blessing thee with the psaltery all the days of my life before the house of God.

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

Now Esaias had said to Ezekias; Take a cake of figs, and mash them, and apply them as a plaster, and thou shalt be well.

22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”

And Ezekias said, This is a sign to Ezekias, that I shall go up to the house of God.