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 became ill and was near death. And so, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet, entered to him, and he said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you shall die, and you shall not live.”

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

And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he prayed to the Lord.

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.

And he said: “I beg you, Lord, I beseech you, to remember how I walked before you in truth and with a whole heart, and that I have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.

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

And 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 and say to Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your days.

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

And I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.

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

And this will be a sign for you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word, which he has spoken:

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 cause the shadow of the lines, which has now descended on the sundial of Ahaz, to move in reverse for ten lines.” And so, the sun moved backward by ten lines, through the degrees by which it had descended.

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

The writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, after he had fallen ill and had 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 middle of my days, I will go to the gates of Hell. So I sought 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 will not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I will no longer behold man, nor the habitation of rest.

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 longevity has been taken away; it has been folded up and taken from me, like the tent of a shepherd. My life has been cut off, as if by a weaver. While I was still beginning, he cut me off. From morning until evening, you have marked out my limits.

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 hoped, even until morning. Like a lion, so has he crushed all my bones. From morning until evening, you have marked my limits.

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 will cry out, like a young swallow. I will meditate, like a dove. My eyes have been weakened by gazing upward. O Lord, I suffer violence! Answer in my favor.

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 can I say, or what would he answer me, since he himself has done this? I will acknowledge to you all my years, in the bitterness of my soul.

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, if such is life, and if the life of my spirit is of such a kind, may you correct me and may you cause me to 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.

Behold, in peace my bitterness is most bitter. But you have rescued my soul, so that it would not perish. You have cast all my sins behind your back.

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 Hell will not confess to you, and death will not praise you. Those who descend into the pit will not hope for your truth. (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, these will give praise to you, as I also do this day! The father will make the truth known to the sons.

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, save me! And we will sing our psalms, all the days of our life, 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.”

Now Isaiah had ordered them to take a paste of figs, and to spread it like plaster over the wound, so that he would be healed.

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

And Hezekiah said, “What will be the sign that I may go up to the house of the Lord?”