Isaiah 38–39

Hezekiah’s Illness

38At that time Hezekiah became very sick; he was almost dead. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and told him, “This is what the Lord says: Make arrangements, because you are not going to live, but die.”

²Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³“Lord, please remember that I have always obeyed you. I have given myself completely to you and have done what you said was right.” Then Hezekiah cried loudly.

⁴Then the Lord spoke his word to Isaiah: ⁵“Go to Hezekiah and tell him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. So I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.

⁷“ ‘The Lord will do what he says. This is the sign from the Lord to show you: ⁸The sun has made a shadow go down the stairway of Ahaz, but I will make it go back ten steps.’ ” So the shadow made by the sun went back up the ten steps it had gone down.

⁹After Hezekiah king of Judah got well, he wrote this song:

¹⁰I said, “I am in the middle of my life.

Do I have to go through the gates of death?

Will I have the rest of my life taken away from me?”

¹¹I said, “I will not see the Lord

in the land of the living again.

I will not again see the people

who live on the earth.

¹²Like a shepherd’s tent,

my home has been pulled down and taken from me.

I am finished

like the cloth a weaver rolls up and cuts from the loom. ⁿ

In one day you brought me to this end.

¹³All night I cried loudly.

Like a lion, he crushed all my bones.

In one day you brought me to this end.

¹⁴I cried like a bird

and moaned like a dove.

My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens.

Lord, I have troubles. Please help me.”

¹⁵What can I say?

The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen.

I have had these troubles in my soul,

so now I will be humble all my life.

¹⁶Lord, because of you, people live.

Because of you, my spirit also lives;

you made me well and let me live.

¹⁷It was for my own good

that I had such troubles.

Because you love me very much,

you did not let me die

but threw my sins

far away.

¹⁸People in the place of the dead cannot praise you;

those who have died cannot sing praises to you;

those who die don’t trust you

to help them.

¹⁹The people who are alive are the ones who praise you.

They praise you as I praise you today.

A father should tell his children

that you provide help.

²⁰The Lord saved me,

so we will play songs on stringed instruments

in the Temple of the Lord

all the days of our lives.

²¹Then Isaiah said, “Make a paste from figs and put it on Hezekiah’s boil. Then he will get well.” ²²Hezekiah then asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign? What will show that I will go up to the Temple of the Lord?”

Messengers from Babylon

39At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and was now well. ²Hezekiah was pleased and showed the messengers what was in his storehouses: the silver, gold, spices, expensive perfumes, his swords and shields, and all his wealth. He showed them everything in his palace and in his kingdom.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “They came from a faraway country—from Babylon.”

⁴So Isaiah asked him, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. I showed them all my wealth.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Listen to the words of the Lord All-Powerful: ⁶‘In the future everything in your palace and everything your ancestors have stored up until this day will be taken away to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ⁷Some of your own children, those who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become servants in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸Hezekiah told Isaiah, “These words from the Lord are good.” He said this because he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”