Isaiah 38–39

38In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto Jehovah, ³and said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. ⁴Then came the word of Jehovah to Isaiah, saying, ⁵Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, 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. ⁶And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city. ⁷And this shall be the sign unto thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing that he hath spoken: ⁸behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which is gone down on the dial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the dial whereon it was gone down.

⁹The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness. ¹⁰I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol:

I am deprived of the residue of my years.

¹¹I said, I shall not see Jehovah, even Jehovah in the land of the living:

I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

¹²My dwelling is removed, and is 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 loom:

From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

¹³I quieted myself until morning; as a lion, so he breaketh all my bones:

From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

¹⁴Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter;

I did moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward:

O Lord, I am oppressed, be thou my surety.

¹⁵What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it:

I shall go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶O Lord, by these things men live;

And wholly therein is the life of my spirit:

Wherefore recover thou me, and make me to live.

¹⁷Behold, it was for my peace that 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.

¹⁸For Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee:

They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

¹⁹The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day:

The father to the children shall make known thy truth.

²⁰Jehovah is ready to save me:

Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments

All the days of our life in the house of Jehovah.

²¹Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. ²²Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah?

39At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. ²And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. ³Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. ⁴Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. ⁵Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: ⁶Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah. ⁷And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ⁸Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.