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.”

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

And Ezekias turned his face to the wall, and prayed 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.

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 Lord sent a message to Isaiah, saying,

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

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.

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

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

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

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.”

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

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

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 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, 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 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 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 life] has failed from amongst 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 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.

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 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!

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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