< 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.’”
In those days hath Hezekiah been sick unto death, and come in unto him doth Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, and saith unto him, 'Thus said Jehovah: Give a charge to thy house, for thou [art] dying, and dost not live.'
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
And Hezekiah turneth round his face unto the wall, and prayeth unto Jehovah,
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.
and saith, 'I pray thee, O Jehovah, remember, I pray Thee, how I have walked habitually before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and that which [is] good in thine eyes I have done;' and Hezekiah weepeth — a great weeping.
4 And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
And a word of Jehovah is unto Isaiah, saying,
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.
Go, and thou hast said to Hezekiah, Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, 'I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I am adding to thy days 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 out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver thee and this city, and have covered over this city.
7 This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:
And this [is] to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah doth this thing that He hath spoken.
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.
Lo, I am bringing back the shadow of the degrees that it hath gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, by the sun, backward ten degrees:' and the sun turneth back ten degrees in the degrees that it had gone down.
9 This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick, when he reviveth 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 — I said in the cutting off of my days, I go in to the gates of Sheol, I have numbered the remnant of mine 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 do not see Jah — Jah! In the land of the living, I do not behold man any more, With the inhabitants of the world.
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 sojourning hath departed, And been removed from me as a shepherd's tent, I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, By weakness it cutteth me off, From day unto night Thou dost end me.
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.
I have set [Him] till morning as a lion, So doth He break all my bones, From day unto night Thou dost end me.
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 crane — a swallow — so I chatter, I mourn as a dove, Drawn up have been mine eyes on high, O Jehovah, oppression [is] on me, be my surety.
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.
— What do I say? seeing He said to me, And He Himself hath wrought, I go softly all my years for the bitterness 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.
Lord, by these do [men] live, And by all in them [is] the life of my spirit, And Thou savest me, make me also to 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.
Lo, to peace He changed for me bitterness, And Thou hast delighted in my soul without corruption, For Thou hast cast behind Thy back all my sins.
18 For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. (Sheol h7585)
For Sheol doth not confess Thee, Death doth not praise Thee, Those going down to the pit hope not for Thy truth. (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, the living, he doth confess Thee.
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.
Like myself to-day — a father to sons Doth make known of Thy faithfulness, O Jehovah — to save me: And my songs we sing all days of our lives In the house of Jehovah.'
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
And Isaiah saith, 'Let them take a bunch of figs, and plaster over the ulcer, and he liveth.'
22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”
And Hezekiah saith, 'What [is] the sign that I go up to the house of Jehovah!'

< Isaiah 38 >