Isaiah 38
38
Sickness and Recovery of Hezekiah. 1#38:1–39:8] The events of this section—sickness and recovery of Hezekiah, embassy of Merodach-baladan—anticipate the rise of Babylon (chaps. 40–66). They occurred prior to the events of 36:1–37:38, which point back to Assyria (1:1–35:10). In those days,#In those days: before the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.”#2 Kgs 20:1. 2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord:
3“Ah, Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was good in your sight!” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.#2 Kgs 18:5–6.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5Go, tell Hezekiah:#Since Hezekiah died in 687 B.C., his sickness may have occurred in 702 B.C., that is, fifteen years before. Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Now I will add fifteen years to your life. 6I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city.#Is 37:35.
7This will be the sign for you from the Lord that the Lord will carry out the word he has spoken: 8See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz#Stairway to the terrace of Ahaz: this interpretation is based on a reading of the Hebrew text revised according to the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah; cf. 2 Kgs 23:12. Many translate the phrase as “steps of Ahaz” and understand this as referring to a sundial. go back the ten steps it has advanced. So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.#2 Kgs 20:9–11.
Hezekiah’s Hymn of Thanksgiving. 9The song of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10In the noontime of life#In the noontime of life: long before the end of a full span of life; cf. Ps 55:24; 102:25. I said,
I must depart!
To the gates of Sheol I have been consigned
for the rest of my years.#Jb 17:11–13; Ps 102:25.
11I said, I shall see the Lord#See the Lord: go to the Temple and take part in its service. no more
in the land of the living.
Nor look on any mortals
among those who dwell in the world.
12My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent,
is struck down and borne away from me;
You have folded up my life, like a weaver
who severs me from the last thread.#These two metaphors emphasize the suddenness and finality of death. #Jb 7:6.
From morning to night you make an end of me;
13I cry out even until the dawn.
Like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from morning to night you make an end of me.#Jb 23:14.
14Like a swallow I chirp;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes grow weary looking heavenward:
Lord, I am overwhelmed; go security for me!
15#The Hebrew text is very problematic and its meaning uncertain. What am I to say or tell him?
He is the one who has done it!
All my sleep has fled,
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16Those live whom the Lord protects;
yours is the life of my spirit.
You have given me health and restored my life!
17Peace in place of bitterness!
You have preserved my life
from the pit of destruction;
Behind your back
you cast all my sins.#Behind your back you cast all my sins: figurative language to express the divine forgiveness of sins, as if God no longer saw or cared about them.
18#See note on Ps 6:6. For it is not Sheol that gives you thanks,
nor death that praises you;
Neither do those who go down into the pit
await your kindness.#Ps 6:6; 88:11–13.
19The living, the living give you thanks,
as I do today.
Parents declare to their children,
O God, your faithfulness.
20The Lord is there to save us.
We shall play our music
In the house of the Lord
all the days of our life.
21#These verses are clearly out of place. Logically they should come after v. 6, as they do in the parallel account in 2 Kgs 20, but the two accounts are not identical, and it appears that the version in Isaiah is abbreviated from that in Kings. If that is so, Is 38:21–22 would be a secondary addition from Kings, inserted by a later reader who thought the account incomplete. Then Isaiah said, “Bring a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil for his recovery.” 22Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
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Isaiah 38: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
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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