Isaiah 38

1 About this time Hezekiah fell very sick and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your affairs in order, because you are going to die. You won't recover.”

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.

2 When Hezekiah heard this, he went to pray privately to the Lord, saying

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

3 “Please remember Lord how I have followed you faithfully with all my heart. I have done what is good in your sight.” Then Hezekiah cried and cried.

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.

4 Then the Lord sent a message to Isaiah, saying,

Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,

5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, This is what the Lord, the God of your forefather David, says: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life.

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.

6 I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

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.

7 This is the sign from the Lord to you that the Lord will do what he promised:

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

8 Look, I will make the shadow made by the sun go back the ten steps that it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. So the sun went back the ten steps that it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”

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.

9 This is what Hezekiah, king of Judah, wrote after he recovered from his sickness:

The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been ill, and had got better from his disease.

10 I said to myself, “Do I have to go to my death just as my life is going well? Why can't I count on the rest of my years?” (Sheol h7585)

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)

11 I said, “I will never again see the Lord, the Lord, in the land of the living. I won't see anyone else again, none of the inhabitants of this world.

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.

12 Like a shepherd's tent, the place where I live has been pulled up and taken away from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up the cloth of my life and cut it from the loom. Day and night you bring me to an end.

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.

13 I lie there patiently until the morning, but I feel like there's a lion breaking every bone in my body. Day and night you bring me to an end.

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

14 I scream like a swift or a songbird, I moan like a dove. My eyes grow dim as I look heavenwards. I'm being attacked, Lord, please come and support me!

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.

15 Yet what can I say? He told me what was going to happen, and he himself did it. I will walk quietly for the rest of my life because of the painful experience I went through.

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 Lord, we live by what you say and do, and I find life in all of this. You have given me back my health and allowed me to live.

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.

17 It was definitely for my own good I went through this bitter experience. You in your love saved me from the pit of destruction and you have forgiven all my sins.

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.

18 Those in the grave cannot praise you, the dead cannot praise you. Those who go down into the pit can no longer hope in your faithfulness. (Sheol h7585)

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)

19 It's only the living who can praise you as I'm doing today. Parents explain to their children how you can be trusted.

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.

20 The Lord saved me! We will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the Lord's Temple.”

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.

21 Isaiah had said, “Prepare a dressing of figs and spread it on the skin sores so he may recover.”

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

22 Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign to confirm that I will go to the Lord's Temple?”

And Hezekiah said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?