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: ‘Put your affairs in order, # Lit Command your house # 2Sm 17:23 for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ” # 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.” # Lit what is good in Your eyes # Dt 6:18 And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5“Go and tell Hezekiah that 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 15 years to your life. # Lit days # 2Kg 18:2,13 6And I will deliver you and this city from the power 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 # Lit this thing He has promised: # Lit said 8I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on Ahaz’s stairway go back by 10 steps.” # Jos 10:12-14 So the sun’s shadow # Lit And the sun went back the 10 steps it had descended.
9A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10I said: In the prime # Lit quiet of my life # Lit days # 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. # 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. # Lit thrum # Jb 6:9
You make an end of me from day until night. # Jb 4:20; Ps 73:14
13I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion;
You make an end of me day and night.
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, because of these promises people live, # Ps 119:71,75
and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well;
You have restored me to health # Ps 39:13
and let me live. # Ps 119:25
17Indeed, it was for my own welfare
that I had such great 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 will # Lit 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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Isaiah 38: HCSB
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Isaiah 38
38
Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies
(2 Kings 20.1-11; 2 Chronicles 32.24-26)
1About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. So I went in and told him, “The Lord says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, and so you had better start doing what needs to be done.”
2Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, 3“Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried hard.
4Then the Lord sent me 5with this message for Hezekiah:
I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will let you live 15 more years, 6while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria.
7Now I will prove to you that I will keep my promise. 8Do you see the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway built for King Ahaz? I will make the shadow go back ten steps.
Then the shadow went back ten steps.#38.8 steps: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 8.
King Hezekiah's Song of Praise
9This is what Hezekiah wrote after he got well:
10I thought I would die
during my best years
and stay as a prisoner forever
in the world of the dead.
11I thought I would never again
see you, my Lord,
or any of the people
who live on this earth.
12My life was taken from me
like the tent that a shepherd
pulls up and moves.
You cut me off like thread
from a weaver's loom;
you make a wreck of me
day and night.
13Until morning came, I thought
you would crush my bones
just like a hungry lion;
both night and day
you make a wreck of me.#38.13 of me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
14I cry like a swallow;
I mourn like a dove.
My eyes are red
from looking to you, Lord.
I am in terrible trouble.
Please come and help me.#38.14 help me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 14.
15There's nothing I can say
in answer to you,
since you are the one
who has done this to me.#38.15 There's … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
My life has turned sour;
I will limp until I die.
16Your words and your deeds
bring life to everyone,
including me.#38.16 Your … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
Please make me healthy
and strong again.
17It was for my own good
that I had such hard times.
But your love protected me
from doom in the deep pit,#38.17 deep pit: The world of the dead, as in verse 18.
and you turned your eyes
away from my sins.
18 #
Si 17.27; Ba 2.17. No one in the world of the dead
can thank you or praise you;
none of those in the deep pit
can hope for you
to show them
how faithful you are.
19Only the living can thank you,
as I am doing today.
Each generation tells the next
about your faithfulness.#38.19 about your faithfulness: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
20You, Lord, will save me,
and every day that we live
we will sing in your temple
to the music
of stringed instruments.
Isaiah's Advice to Hezekiah
21I had told King Hezekiah's servants to put some mashed figs on the king's open sore, and he would get well. 22Then Hezekiah asked for proof that he would again worship in the Lord's temple.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.