Isaiah 38:9–20

⁹King Hezekiah of Judah wrote this after he was sick and became well again: 

¹⁰I thought that in the prime of my life 

I would go down to the gates of Sheol 

and be robbed of the rest of my life. 

¹¹I thought that I wouldn’t see the Lord in this world. 

Even with all the people in the world, 

I thought I would never see another person. 

¹²My life was over. 

You rolled it up like a shepherd’s tent. 

You rolled up my life like a weaver. 

You cut me off from the loom. 

You ended my life in one day. 

¹³I cried out until morning 

as if a lion had crushed all my bones. 

You ended my life in one day. 

¹⁴I chirped like swallows and cranes. 

I cooed like doves. 

My eyes were tired from looking up to heaven. 

I’ve suffered miserably, O Lord! 

Please help me! 

¹⁵What can I say now that he has spoken to me? 

He has done this. 

I will be careful the rest of my life because of my bitter experience. 

¹⁶Lord, people live in spite of such things, 

and I have the will to live in spite of them. 

You give me health and keep me alive. 

¹⁷Now my bitter experience turns into peace. 

You have saved me and kept me from the rotting pit. 

You have thrown all my sins behind you. 

¹⁸Sheol doesn’t thank you! 

Death doesn’t praise you! 

Those who go down to the pit cannot expect you to be faithful. 

¹⁹Those who are living praise you as I do today. 

Fathers make your faithfulness known to their children. 

²⁰The Lord is going to rescue me, 

so let us play stringed instruments. 

We live our lives in the Lord’s temple.