Isaiah 38

¹In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, The Lord says, Put your house in order; for your death is near.

²And Hezekiah, turning his face to the wall, made his prayer to the Lord, saying,

³O Lord, keep in mind how I have been true to you with all my heart, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah gave way to bitter weeping.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,

⁵Go to Hezekiah, and say, The Lord, the God of David, your father, says, Your prayer has come to my ears, and I have seen your weeping: see, I will give you fifteen more years of life.

⁶And I will keep you and this town safe from the hands of the king of Assyria: and I will keep watch over this town.

⁷And Isaiah said, This is the sign the Lord will give you, that he will do what he has said:

⁸See, I will make the shade which has gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, go back ten steps. So the shade went back the ten steps by which it had gone down.

⁹The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been ill, and had got better from his disease.

¹⁰I said, In the quiet of my days I am going down into the underworld: the rest of my years are being taken away from me.

¹¹I said, I will not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I will not see man again or those living in the world.

¹²My resting-place is pulled up and taken away from me like a herdsman's tent: my life is rolled up like a linen-worker's thread; I am cut off from the cloth on the frame: from day even to night you give me up to pain.

¹³I am crying out with pain till the morning; it is as if a lion was crushing all my bones.

¹⁴I make cries like a bird; I give out sounds of grief like a dove: my eyes are looking up with desire; O Lord, I am crushed, take up my cause.

¹⁵What am I to say? seeing that it is he who has done it: all my time of sleeping I am turning from side to side without rest.

¹⁶O Lord, for this cause I am waiting for you, give rest to my spirit: make me well again, and let me come back to life.

¹⁷See, in place of peace my soul had bitter sorrow. but you have kept back my soul from the underworld; for you have put all my sins out of your memory.

¹⁸For the underworld is not able to give you praise, death gives you no honour: for those who go down into the underworld there is no hope in your mercy.

¹⁹The living, the living man, he will give you praise, as I do this day: the father will give the story of your mercy to his children.

²⁰O Lord, quickly be my saviour; so we will make my songs to corded instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.

²¹And Isaiah said, Let them take a cake of figs, and put it on the diseased place, and he will get well.

²²And Hezekiah said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?

Isaiah 38

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 the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

²Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,

³And said, Remember now, O Lord, 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 the Lord to Isaiah, saying,

⁵Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, 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 the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken;

⁸Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

⁹The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

¹⁰I said in the cutting off 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 not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

¹²Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

¹³I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

¹⁴Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

¹⁵What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

¹⁷Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

¹⁸For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not 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.

²⁰The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

²¹For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

²²Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?