Isaiah 38
38
Chapter 38
Hezekiah becomes ill
1At that time, Hezekiah became very ill. He nearly died. Then Amoz's son, Isaiah the prophet, went to Hezekiah. He said to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You will soon die. You will not get better. So you must tell your family what to do after your death.” ’
2Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and he prayed to the Lord. 3He prayed, ‘Lord, please remember that I have served you well. I have always obeyed you. You could trust me to do the things that you told me to do.’ Hezekiah wept very much.
4Then the Lord said to Isaiah, 5‘Go and say this to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord says, the God that your ancestor David worshipped. I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. So I will let you live for 15 more years. 6I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will keep Jerusalem safe.” ’
7Isaiah said, ‘The Lord will do what he has promised to do for you. This is how you will know that it will really happen. 8You can see the sun's shadow when it falls on the stairs that King Ahaz built. The Lord will cause the shadow to go back ten steps on these stairs.’ Then the shadow did go back ten steps!
Hezekiah's song
9When Hezekiah became better from his disease, he wrote this song:
10I thought that I might die in the middle of my life.
I thought that I would go into the deep hole of death,
before I had lived all the years of my life.
11I thought, ‘I will not see the Lord again,
while I live in this world.
I will no longer see the people who live in the world.
I will no longer live among them.’
12My home here has gone,
as easily as they pull down a shepherd's tent.
God has cut off my life,
like a piece of cloth that they have just made.
They cut it off and they roll it up.
As quickly as day becomes night,
God brings my life to an end.
13I waited until morning would come.
It seemed like God was breaking all my bones,
like a lion does.
As quickly as day becomes night,
God brings my life to an end.
14I cry like a swallow.
I make a sad noise like a dove.
My eyes are weak as I look up to heaven for help.
Lord God, save me from my trouble!
15I do not know what I can say.
The Lord has told me what must happen.
He has done what he decided to do.
I will live quietly for the rest of my life,
because I am very sad and upset.
16 Lord God, your promises give life to people.
May they give life to my spirit.
Please make me well again and let me live.
17Yes, it was good for me to have this trouble.
You rescued me from the deep hole of death.
You removed my sins,
and you put them behind your back.
18Dead people in their graves cannot praise you.
They cannot sing to thank you.
People who go down into the deep hole of death
cannot trust you to help them.
19It is those people who are alive that can thank you.
And I am doing it today.
Fathers tell their children that they can trust you.
20The Lord will now save me from death.
We will sing to thank the Lord in his temple.
We will sing with happy music every day of our lives.
21Now Isaiah had said this: ‘Take some figs to make a medicine and put it on Hezekiah's boil. Then he will get better.’ 22Hezekiah had asked, ‘What will show me that I will be able to go up to the Lord's temple?’ #38:22 Verses 21-22 may come between verse 6 and verse 7.
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Isaiah 38
38
1In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’”
2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, 3and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying, 5“Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. 7This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken. 8Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.”’” So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
9The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness:
10I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol.#38:10 Sheol is the place of the dead.
I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
11I said, “I won’t see Yah,
Yah in the land of the living.
I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12My dwelling is removed,
and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He will cut me off from the loom.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
13I waited patiently until morning.
He breaks all my bones like a lion.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
14I chattered like a swallow or a crane.
I moaned like a dove.
My eyes weaken looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed.
Be my security.”
15What will I say?
He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it.
I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
16Lord, men live by these things;
and my spirit finds life in all of them.
You restore me, and cause me to live.
17Behold, for peace I had great anguish,
but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;
for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18For Sheol#38:18 Sheol is the place of the dead. can’t praise you.
Death can’t celebrate you.
Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
19The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today.
The father shall make known your truth to the children.
20Yahweh will save me.
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in Yahweh’s house.
21Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.” 22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to Yahweh’s house?”
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