Isaiah 38

1 In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, The Lord says, Put your house in order; for your death is near.

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 says the Lord, Give orders concerning your house: for you shall die, and not live.

2 And Hezekiah, turning his face to the wall, made his prayer to the Lord, saying,

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

3 O Lord, keep in mind how I have been true to you with all my heart, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah gave way to bitter weeping.

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

4 Then 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 to Hezekiah, and say, The Lord, the God of David, your father, says, Your prayer has come to my ears, and I have seen your weeping: see, I will give you fifteen more years of life.

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

6 And I will keep you and this town safe from the hands of the king of Assyria: and I will keep watch over this town.

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

7 And Isaiah said, This is the sign the Lord will give you, that he will do what he has said:

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

8 See, I will make the shade which has gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, go back ten steps. So the shade went back the ten steps by which it had gone down.

behold, I will turn back the shadow of the degrees [of the dial] by which ten degrees on the house of your 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 The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been ill, and had got better from his disease.

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

10 I said, In the quiet of my days I am going down into the underworld: the rest of my years are being taken away from me. (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 not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I will not see man again or those living in the 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 resting-place is pulled up and taken away from me like a herdsman's tent: my life is rolled up like a linen-worker's thread; I am cut off from the cloth on the frame: from day even to night you give me up to pain.

[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 near to cut off [the] thread.

13 I am crying out with pain till the morning; it is as if a lion was crushing all my bones.

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 make cries like a bird; I give out sounds of grief like a dove: my eyes are looking up with desire; O Lord, I am crushed, take up my cause.

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 am I to say? seeing that it is he who has done it: all my time of sleeping I am turning from side to side without rest.

16 O Lord, for this cause I am waiting for you, give rest to my spirit: make me well again, and let me come back to life.

[Yes], O Lord, for it was told you concerning this; and you have revived my breath; and I am comforted, and live.

17 See, in place of peace my soul had bitter sorrow. but you have kept back my soul from the underworld; for you have put all my sins out of your memory.

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

18 For the underworld is not able to give you praise, death gives you no honour: for those who go down into the underworld there is no hope in your mercy. (Sheol h7585)

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

19 The living, the living man, he will give you praise, as I do this day: the father will give the story of your mercy to his children.

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

20 O Lord, quickly be my saviour; so we will make my songs to corded instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.

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

21 And Isaiah said, Let them take a cake of figs, and put it on the diseased place, and he will get well.

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

22 And Hezekiah said, What is 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.