Esias 38
1 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.
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 And Ezekias turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,
And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he prayed to the Lord.
3 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.
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 And the word of the Lord came to Esaias, saying, Go, and say to Ezekias,
And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying:
5 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.
“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 And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians: and 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 And this [shall be] a sign to you from the Lord, that God will do this thing;
And this will be a sign for you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word, which he has spoken:
8 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.
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 THE PRAYER OF EZEKIAS KING OF JUDEA, WHEN HE HAD BEEN SICK, AND WAS 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 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)
“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 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.
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 [My life] has failed from among 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 [Yes], O Lord, for it was told you concerning this; and you have revived my breath; and I am comforted, and 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 For you have chosen my soul, that it should not perish: and you have cast all [my] sins behind me.
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 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)
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 The living shall bless you, as I also [do]: for from this day shall I beget children, who shall declare your righteousness,
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 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.
O Lord, save me! And we will sing our psalms, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”
21 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.
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 And Ezekias said, This is a sign to Ezekias, that I shall go up to the house of God.
And Hezekiah said, “What will be the sign that I may go up to the house of the Lord?”
