Isaiah 38
38
Hezekiah’s illness
1At about that time Hezekiah became deathly sick. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, came to him and said: “The LORD God says this: Put your affairs in order because you are about to die. You won’t survive this.”
2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD: 3“Please, LORD, remember how I’ve walked before you in truth and sincerity. I’ve done what you consider to be good.” Then Hezekiah cried and cried.
4Then the LORD’s word came to Isaiah: 5“Go and say to Hezekiah: The LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says this: I have heard your prayer and have seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life. 6I will rescue you and this city from the power of the Assyrian king. I will defend this city. 7This will be your sign from the LORD that he will do what he promised: 8once the shadow cast by the sun descends on the steps of Ahaz, I will make it back up ten steps.” And the sun went back ten of the steps that it had already descended.
9A composition by Judah’s King Hezekiah when he was sick and then recovered from his sickness:
10I thought, I must depart in the prime of my life;
I have been relegated to the gates of the underworld#38.10 Heb Sheol for the rest of my life.
11I thought, I won’t see the LORD.
The LORD is in the land of the living.
I won’t look upon humans again
or be with the inhabitants of the world.
12My lifetime is plucked up
and taken from me like a shepherd’s tent.
My life is shriveled like woven cloth;
God cuts me off from the loom.
Between daybreak and nightfall
you carry out your verdict against me.
13I cried out#38.13 Or I lay down until morning:
“Like a lion God crushes all my bones.
Between daybreak and nightfall
you carry out your verdict against me.
14Like a swallow#38.14 Heb uncertain I chirp;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes have grown weary looking to heaven.
Lord, I’m overwhelmed; support me!”
15What can I say?
God has spoken to me;
he himself has acted.
I will wander#38.15 Heb uncertain my whole life
with a bitter spirit.
16The LORD Most High is the one who gives life to every heart,
who gives life to the spirit!#38.16 Heb uncertain
17Look, he indeed exchanged my bitterness for wholeness.#38.17 Heb uncertain
You yourself have spared#38.17 Cf LXX, Vulg; MT loved my whole being
from the pit of destruction,
because you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
18The underworld#38.18 Heb Sheol can’t thank you,
nor can death#38.18 Heb Maveth praise you;
those who go down to the pit
can’t hope for your faithfulness.
19The living, the living can thank you, as I do today.
Parents will tell children about your faithfulness.
20The LORD has truly saved me,
and we will make music#38.20 Or my stringed instruments at the LORD’s house all the days of our lives.
21Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a salve made from figs, put it on the swelling, and he’ll get better.”
22Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What’s the sign that I’ll be able to go up to the LORD’s temple?”
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Isaiah 38: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 38
38
XXXVIII
1In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him Thus saith Jehovah: Give charge concerning thine house: for thou shalt die and not live. 2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, mad prayed unto Jehovah. 3And he said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight And Hezekiah wept sore. 4Then came the word of Jehovah to Isaiah, saying: 5Go, and say unto Hezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. 6And I will deliver thee, and this city, out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. 7And this shall be a sign unto thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing which he hath spoken. 8Behold, I will cause the shadow of degrees, which hath gone down, by the sun, on the dial of Ahaz, to go back ten degrees. And the sun returned back ten degrees, by the degrees by which it had gone down.
9THE WRITING OF HEZEKIAH KING OF JUDAH, WHEN HE HAD BEEN SICK, AND WAS RECOVERED FROM HIS SICKNESS.
10I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave;
I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11I said: I shall no more see Jehovah,
Jehovah in the land of the living;
I shall not behold man any more,
Being numbered among the inhabitants of the land of stillness.
12My habitation is taken down, and removed from me, like a shepherd's tent.
My life is cut off, as by a weaver; He cutteth me off from the woof;
Even from day to night wilt thou make an end of me.
13I resembled a roaring lion till the morning,
So did He break all my bones;
Even from day to night wilt thou make an end of me.
14Like a swallow, or a crane, so did I twitter;
I moaned like the dove:
Mine eyes foil with looking upward;
O Jehovah, I am oppressed; be thou surety for me.
15What shall I say?
He hath both spoken unto me, and He hath himself performed it:
I will walk humbly all my years on account of the bitterness of my soul.
16O Lord, by these things do men live;
And from all these things cometh the life of my spirit;
For thou hast restored my strength, and preserved my life.
17Behold, my bitter anguish is changed into health:
Thou hast also in love to me rescued my soul from the pit of destruction;
Yea, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
18For the grave cannot praise thee,
Death cannot celebrate thee:
They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
19The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day;
The father to the children shall make known thy truth.
20 Jehovah was at hand to save me:
Therefore my stringed instruments will we strike,
All the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah.
21Now, Isaiah had said: Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall
22recover. Hezekiah also had said: What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah?
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.