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
1In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.” 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, 3and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5“Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: 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 defend this city.
7“This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: 8Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.#38.8 The Hebrew of this verse is obscure
9A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10I said, In the noontide of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
11I said, I shall not see the Lord
in the land of the living;
I shall look upon man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd's tent;
like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom;
from day to night thou dost bring me to an end;#38.12 Heb uncertain
13I cry for help#38.13 Cn: Heb obscure until morning;
like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from day to night thou dost bring me to an end.#38.13 Heb uncertain
14Like a swallow or a crane#38.14 Heb uncertain I clamor,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be thou my security!
15But what can I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
All my sleep has fled#38.15 Cn Compare Syr: Heb I will walk slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16O Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.#38.16 Heb uncertain
Oh, restore me to health and make me live!
17Lo, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
but thou hast held back#38.17 Cn Compare Gk Vg: Heb loved my life
from the pit of destruction,
for thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back.
18For Sheol cannot thank thee,
death cannot praise thee;
those who go down to the pit cannot hope
for thy faithfulness.
19The living, the living, he thanks thee,
as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children
thy faithfulness.
20The Lord will save me,
and we will sing to stringed instruments#38.20 Heb my stringed instruments
all the days of our life,
at the house of the Lord.
21Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
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