Isaiah 38
38
1About this time Hezekiah fell very sick and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your affairs in order, because you are going to die. You won't recover.”
2When Hezekiah heard this, he went to pray privately#38:2. “Privately”: literally, “turned his face to the wall.” to the Lord, saying 3“Please remember Lord how I have followed you faithfully with all my heart. I have done what is good in your sight.” Then Hezekiah cried and cried.
4Then the Lord sent a message to Isaiah, saying, 5“Go and tell Hezekiah, This is what the Lord, the God of your forefather David, says: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. 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.
7This is the sign from the Lord to you that the Lord will do what he promised: 8Look, I will make the shadow made by the sun go back the ten steps that it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. So the sun went back the ten steps that it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”
9This is what Hezekiah, king of Judah, wrote after he recovered from his sickness:
10I said to myself, “Do I have to go to my death#38:10. “Death” literally, “gates of Sheol.” just as my life is going well? Why can't I count on the rest of my years?”
11I said, “I will never again see the Lord, the Lord, in the land of the living. I won't see anyone else again, none of the inhabitants of this world. 12Like a shepherd's tent, the place where I live#38:12. “The place where I live”: referring to his body. has been pulled up and taken away from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up the cloth of my life and cut it from the loom. Day and night you bring me to an end. 13I lie there patiently until the morning, but I feel like there's a lion breaking every bone in my body. Day and night you bring me to an end. 14I scream like a swift or a songbird,#38:14. “Songbird”: some have suggested “thrush,” but the meaning is uncertain. It was certainly meant to reflect a plaintive, sad cry, and therefore the common translation of “crane” is certainly incorrect. I moan like a dove. My eyes grow dim as I look heavenwards. I'm being attacked, Lord, please come and support me!
15Yet what can I say? He told me what was going to happen, and he himself did it.#38:15. Referring to his illness. I will walk quietly for the rest of my life because of the painful experience I went through. 16Lord, we live by what you say and do, and I find life in all of this. You have given me back my health and allowed me to live. 17It was definitely for my own good I went through this bitter experience. You in your love saved me from the pit of destruction and you have forgiven all my sins. 18Those in the grave cannot praise you, the dead cannot praise you. Those who go down into the pit can no longer hope in your faithfulness. 19It's only the living who can praise you as I'm doing today. Parents explain to their children how you can be trusted. 20The Lord saved me! We will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the Lord's Temple.”
21Isaiah had said, “Prepare a dressing of figs and spread it on the skin sores so he may recover.” 22Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign to confirm that I will go to the Lord's Temple?”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 38
38
Hezekiah’s Illness
2Ki 20:1–11; 2Ch 32:24–26
1#2Sa 17:23; 2Ch 32:24In those days Hezekiah was mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.”
2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, 3#1Ch 29:19; Ne 13:14and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying: 5#2Ki 18:2“Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Surely I will add to your days fifteen years. 6#Isa 37:35I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.
7#Jdg 6:37–39; Isa 37:30“This shall be a sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: 8#Jos 10:12–14I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow returned ten steps on the sundial by which it had gone down.
9This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10#2Co 1:9; Ps 102:24 I said: In the middle of my days,
I shall go to the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.
11#Ps 27:13 I said, I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord, in the land of the living;
I shall see man no more
with the inhabitants of the world.
12#Ps 73:14; 2Co 5:1 My dwelling is pulled up
and removed from me as a shepherd’s tent;
I rolled up my life like a weaver.
He cuts me off from the loom;
from day even to night You make an end of me.
13#Ps 51:8; Da 6:24 I composed my soul until morning,
like a lion, so He breaks all my bones;
from day even to night You make an end of me.
14#Isa 59:11; Job 30:29 Like a crane or a swallow, so I twitter;
I mourn as a dove;
my eyes look wistfully upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
15#1Ki 21:27; Job 7:11 What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it.
I shall wander about all my years
in the bitterness of my soul.
16#Dt 8:3 O Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these things is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health
and make me live!
17#Ps 30:3; Isa 43:25 Surely it was for my own peace
that I had great bitterness;
but You have kept my soul
from the pit of corruption,
for You have cast all my sins
behind Your back.
18#Ecc 9:10; Ps 6:5 For Sheol cannot thank You,
death cannot praise You;
those who go down into the pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19#Dt 6:7; 4:9 It is the living who give thanks to You,
as I do this day;
a father explains to his sons
about Your faithfulness.
20The Lord shall surely save me;
therefore, we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
in the house of the Lord.
21For Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and lay it on the boil, and he shall recover.”
22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
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