Isaiah 38:9–20

⁹A writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

¹⁰I said: In the noontide of my days

I must depart;

I am consigned to the gates of Sheol

for the rest of my years.^*

¹¹I said, I shall not see the Lord

in the land of the living;

I shall look upon mortals no more

among the inhabitants of the world.^*

¹²My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me

like a shepherd’s tent;

like a weaver I have rolled up my life;

he cuts me off from the loom;

from day to night you bring me to an end;^*

¹³I cry for help^e until morning;

like a lion he breaks all my bones;

from day to night you bring me to an end.^*

¹⁴Like a swallow or a crane^f I clamor;

I moan like a dove.

My eyes are weary with looking upward.

O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security!^*

¹⁵But what can I say? For he has spoken to me,

and he himself has done it.

All my sleep has fled^g

because of the bitterness of my soul.^*

¹⁶O Lord, by these things people live,

and in all these is the life of my spirit.^h

Oh, restore me to health and make me live!

¹⁷Surely it was for my welfare

that I had great bitterness,

but you have held backⁱ my life

from the pit of destruction,

for you have cast all my sins

behind your back.^*

¹⁸For Sheol cannot thank you;

death cannot praise you;

those who go down to the Pit cannot hope

for your faithfulness.^*

¹⁹The living, the living, they thank you,

as I do this day;

fathers make known to children

your faithfulness.^*

²⁰The Lord will save me,

and we will sing to stringed instruments^j

all the days of our lives,

at the house of the Lord.^*