Isaiah 38

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. ^rThe prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, ^stfor you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ” ^u

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. ³He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly, ^vand have done what pleases You.” ^wxAnd Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life. ^yz6And I will deliver you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city. ^a7This is the sign to you ^bfrom the Lord that He will do what ^cHe has promised: ^d8I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on Ahaz’s stairway go back by 10 steps.” ^eSo the sun’s shadow ^fwent back the 10 steps it had descended.

⁹A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

¹⁰I said: In the prime ^gof my life ^hi

I must go to the gates of Sheol; ^j

I am deprived of the rest of my years.

¹¹I said: I will never see the Lord,

the Lord in the land of the living; ^k

I will not look on humanity any longer

with the inhabitants of what is passing away. ^l

¹²My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me

like a shepherd’s tent. ^m

I have rolled up my life like a weaver; ⁿ

He cuts me off from the loom. ^op

You make an end of me from day until night. ^q

¹³I thought until the morning:

He will break all my bones like a lion;

You make an end of me day and night.

¹⁴I chirp like a swallow or a crane;

I moan like a dove. ^r

My eyes grow weak looking upward.

Lord, I am oppressed; support me. ^s

¹⁵What can I say?

He has spoken to me,

and He Himself has done it.

I walk along slowly all my years ^t

because of the bitterness of my soul, ^u

¹⁶Lord, because of these promises people live, ^v

and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well;

You have restored me to health ^w

and let me live. ^x

¹⁷Indeed, it was for my own welfare

that I had such great bitterness; ^y

but Your love has delivered me

from the Pit of destruction, ^z

for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back. ^a

¹⁸For Sheol cannot thank You;

Death cannot praise You. ^b

Those who go down to the Pit

cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

¹⁹The living, only the living can thank You,

as I do today;

a father will make Your faithfulness known to children. ^c

²⁰The Lord will ^dsave me;

we will play stringed instruments

all the days of our lives

at the house of the Lord. ^e

²¹Now Isaiah ^fhad said, “Let them take a lump of pressed figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover.” ²²And Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”