Isaiah 38

¹In those days Hezekiah became ill and was near death. And so, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet, entered to him, and he said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you shall die, and you shall not live.”

²And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he prayed to the Lord.

³And he said: “I beg you, Lord, I beseech you, to remember how I walked before you in truth and with a whole heart, and that I have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.

⁴And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying:

⁵“Go and say to Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your days.

⁶And I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.

⁷And this will be a sign for you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word, which he has spoken:

⁸Behold, I will cause the shadow of the lines, which has now descended on the sundial of Ahaz, to move in reverse for ten lines.” And so, the sun moved backward by ten lines, through the degrees by which it had descended.

⁹The writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, after he had fallen ill and had recovered from his sickness:

¹⁰“I said: In the middle of my days, I will go to the gates of Hell. So I sought the remainder of my years.

¹¹I said: I will not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I will no longer behold man, nor the habitation of rest.

¹²My longevity has been taken away; it has been folded up and taken from me, like the tent of a shepherd. My life has been cut off, as if by a weaver. While I was still beginning, he cut me off. From morning until evening, you have marked out my limits.

¹³I hoped, even until morning. Like a lion, so has he crushed all my bones. From morning until evening, you have marked my limits.

¹⁴I will cry out, like a young swallow. I will meditate, like a dove. My eyes have been weakened by gazing upward. O Lord, I suffer violence! Answer in my favor.

¹⁵What can I say, or what would he answer me, since he himself has done this? I will acknowledge to you all my years, in the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶O Lord, if such is life, and if the life of my spirit is of such a kind, may you correct me and may you cause me to live.

¹⁷Behold, in peace my bitterness is most bitter. But you have rescued my soul, so that it would not perish. You have cast all my sins behind your back.

¹⁸For Hell will not confess to you, and death will not praise you. Those who descend into the pit will not hope for your truth.

¹⁹The living, the living, these will give praise to you, as I also do this day! The father will make the truth known to the sons.

²⁰O Lord, save me! And we will sing our psalms, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”

²¹Now Isaiah had ordered them to take a paste of figs, and to spread it like plaster over the wound, so that he would be healed.

²²And Hezekiah said, “What will be the sign that I may 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?