< 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.
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 And Hezekiah, turning his face to the wall, made his prayer to the Lord, saying,
And Hezekiah turneth round his face unto the wall, and prayeth unto Jehovah,
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.
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 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,
And a word of Jehovah is unto Isaiah, saying,
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.
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 keep you and this town safe from the hands of the king of Assyria: and I will keep watch over this town.
and out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver thee and this city, and have covered over 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 [is] to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah doth this thing that He hath spoken.
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.
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 The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been ill, and had got better from his disease.
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick, when he reviveth 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 )
'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 )
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 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 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 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 am crying out with pain till the morning; it is as if a lion was crushing all my bones.
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 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 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 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.
— 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, for this cause I am waiting for you, give rest to my spirit: make me well again, and let me come back to life.
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 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.
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 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 )
For Sheol doth not confess Thee, Death doth not praise Thee, Those going down to the pit hope not for Thy truth. (Sheol )
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, the living, he doth confess Thee.
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.
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 And Isaiah said, Let them take a cake of figs, and put it on the diseased place, and he will get well.
And Isaiah saith, 'Let them take a bunch of figs, and plaster over the ulcer, and he liveth.'
22 And Hezekiah said, What is 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!'