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
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.