Chapter 38

Hezekiah Healed

1 aIn those days Hezekiah became 1mortally ill. And bIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘cSet your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,

3 and said, “aRemember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have bwalked before You in truth and with a cwhole heart, and dhave done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah ewept 1bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,

5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add afifteen years to your 1life.

6 “I will adeliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.” ’

7 “This shall be the asign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken:

8 “Behold, I will acause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the bsun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and 1recovery:

10 I said, “aIn the middle of my 1life

I am to enter the bgates of Sheol;

I am to be cdeprived of the rest of my years.”

11 I said, “I will not see the Lord,

The Lord ain the land of the living;

I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

12 “Like a shepherd’s atent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;

As a bweaver I crolled up my life.

He dcuts me off from the loom;

From eday until night You make an end of me.

13 “I composed my soul until morning.

aLike a lion—so He bbreaks all my bones,

From cday until night You make an end of me.

14 “aLike a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;

I bmoan like a dove;

My ceyes look wistfully to the heights;

O Lord, I am oppressed, be my dsecurity.

15 “aWhat shall I say?

1For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;

I will bwander about all my years because of the cbitterness of my soul.

16 “O Lord, aby these things men live,

And in all these is the life of my spirit;

1bO restore me to health and clet me live!

17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;

It is You who has 1akept my soul from the pit of 2nothingness,

For You have bcast all my sins behind Your back.

18 “For aSheol cannot thank You,

Death cannot praise You;

Those who go down bto the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

19 “It is the aliving who give thanks to You, as I do today;

A bfather tells his sons about Your faithfulness.

20 “The Lord will surely save me;

So we will aplay my songs on stringed instruments

bAll the days of our life cat the house of the Lord.”

21 Now aIsaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.”

22 Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the asign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”