Isaiah 38
38
Hezekiah’s Illness
(2 Kings 20:1–11; 2 Chronicles 32:24)
1In those days Hezekiah became sick and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Give final instructions to your household, because you’re about to die. You won’t get well.”
2Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3“Please, Lord, remember how I’ve lived faithfully and sincerely in your presence. I’ve done what you consider right.” And he cried bitterly.
4Then the Lord spoke his word to Isaiah, 5“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I’ve heard your prayer. I’ve seen your tears. I’m going to give you 15 more years to live. 6I’ll rescue you and defend this city from the control of the king of Assyria.’ ”
21Then Isaiah said, “Take a fig cake, and place it over the boil so that the king will get well.”#38:21 Verses 21 and 22 have been placed after verse 6 to communicate the order of the account more clearly in English. According to most scholars, if these verses were originally in Isaiah 38, they most likely ended up being misplaced. See 2 Kings 20:7–8 for the proper placement of these verses in the narrative.
22Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign that I’ll go to the Lord’s temple?”
7 ⌞Isaiah said,⌟ “This is your sign from the Lord that he will do what he promises. 8The sun made a shadow that went down the stairway of Ahaz’s upper palace. I’m going to make the shadow go back ten steps.” So the sun on the stairway went back up the ten steps it had gone down.
9King Hezekiah of Judah wrote this after he was sick and became well again:
10I thought that in the prime of my life
I would go down to the gates of Sheol
and be robbed of the rest of my life.
11I thought that I wouldn’t see the Lord in this world.
Even with all the people in the world,
I thought I would never see another person.
12My life was over.
You rolled it up like a shepherd’s tent.
You rolled up my life like a weaver.
You cut me off from the loom.
You ended my life in one day.
13I cried out until morning
as if a lion had crushed all my bones.
You ended my life in one day.
14I chirped like swallows and cranes.
I cooed like doves.
My eyes were tired from looking up to heaven.
I’ve suffered miserably, O Lord!
Please help me!
15What can I say now that he has spoken to me?
He has done this.
I will be careful the rest of my life because of my bitter experience.
16Lord, people live in spite of such things,
and I have the will to live in spite of them.
You give me health and keep me alive.
17Now my bitter experience turns into peace.
You have saved me and kept me from the rotting pit.
You have thrown all my sins behind you.
18Sheol doesn’t thank you!
Death doesn’t praise you!
Those who go down to the pit cannot expect you to be faithful.
19Those who are living praise you as I do today.
Fathers make your faithfulness known to their children.
20The Lord is going to rescue me,
so let us play stringed instruments.
We live our lives in the Lord’s temple.
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Isaiah 38: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 38
38
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
1In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill.#2Kg 20:1–6,9–11; 2Ch 32:24 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order,#2Sm 17:23 for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”#38:1 Lit live
2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly,#Gn 17:1; 1Kg 2:4; 3:6; 8:23; 2Kg 18:5–6; Ps 26:3 and have done what pleases you.”#Dt 6:18 And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your life.#38:5 Lit days, also in v. 10#2Kg 18:2,13 6And I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.#Is 31:5; 37:35 7This is the sign to you#Is 37:30 from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: 8I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on the stairway of Ahaz go back by ten steps.’”#Jos 10:12–14 So the sun’s shadow#38:8 Lit And the sun went back the ten steps it had descended.
9A poem by King Hezekiah of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10I said: In the prime#38:10 Lit quiet of my life#Ps 102:24
I must go to the gates of Sheol;#Ps 107:18
I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11I said: I will never see the Lord,
the Lord in the land of the living;#Ps 27:13; 116:9
I will not look on humanity any longer
with the inhabitants of what is passing away.#38:11 Some Hb mss, Tg read of the world
12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent.#2Co 5:1,4; 2Pt 1:13–14
I have rolled up my life like a weaver;#Jb 7:6; Heb 1:12
he cuts me off from the loom.#Jb 6:9
By nightfall#38:12 Lit From day until night, also in v. 13 you make an end of me.#Jb 4:20; Ps 73:14
13I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion.
By nightfall you make an end of me.
14I chirp like a swallow or a crane;
I moan like a dove.#Is 59:11; Ezk 7:16; Nah 2:7
My eyes grow weak looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed; support me.#Jb 17:3; Ps 119:122
15What can I say?
He has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
I walk along slowly all my years#1Kg 21:27
because of the bitterness of my soul.#1Sm 1:10; Ezk 27:31; Jb 3:20; 7:11; 10:1
16Lord, by such things people live,#Ps 119:71,75
and in every one of them my spirit finds life;
you have restored me to health#Ps 39:13
and let me live.#Ps 119:25
17Indeed, it was for my own well-being
that I had such intense bitterness;#Heb 12:11
but your love has delivered me
from the Pit of destruction,#Jb 33:18,30; Ps 103:4; 106:23; Ezk 20:17; Jnh 2:6
for you have thrown all my sins behind your back.#Is 43:25; Jr 31:34; Mc 7:19
18For Sheol cannot thank you;
Death cannot praise you.#Ps 6:5; 30:9; 88:10–12; 115:17
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19The living, only the living can thank you,
as I do today;
a father will make your faithfulness known to children.#Dt 6:7; 11:19; Ps 78:5–7
20The Lord is ready to save me;
we will play stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
at the house of the Lord.#Ps 23:6; 116:17–19
21Now Isaiah#2Kg 20:7–8 had said, “Let them take a lump of pressed figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover.” 22And Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”
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