< Isaiah 38 >
1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the LORD: Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.'
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,
3 and said: 'Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight.' And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying:
5 'Go, and say to Hezekiah: Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.
7 And this shall be the sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He hath spoken:
8 behold, I will cause the shadow of the dial, which is gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, to return backward ten degrees.' So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.
10 I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go, even to the gates of the nether-world; I am deprived of the residue of my years. (Sheol )
11 I said: I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 My habitation is plucked up and carried away from me as a shepherd's tent; I have rolled up like a weaver my life; He will cut me off from the thrum; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.
13 The more I make myself like unto a lion until morning, the more it breaketh all my bones; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.
15 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it; I shall go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live, and altogether therein is the life of my spirit; wherefore recover Thou me, and make me to live.
17 Behold, for my peace I had great bitterness; but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.
18 For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. (Sheol )
19 The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.
20 The LORD is ready to save me; therefore we will sing songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
21 And Isaiah said: 'Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.'
22 And Hezekiah said. 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?'
