Isaiah 38

¹In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaiah the son of Amos the prophet cane unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live.

²And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,

³And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.

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

⁵Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years:

⁶And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.

⁷And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word which he hath spoken:

⁸Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines backward. And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was gone down.

⁹The writing of Ezechias king of Juda, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.

¹⁰I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought for the residue of my years.

¹¹I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.

¹²My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd's tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

¹³I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

¹⁴I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me.

¹⁵What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he himself hath done it? I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶O Lord, if man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in such things as these, thou shalt correct me, and make me to live.

¹⁷Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou hast delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

¹⁸For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.

¹⁹The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do this day: the father shall make the truth known to the children.

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 that they should take a lump of figs, and lay it as a plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed.

²²And Ezechias had said: What shall be the sign that I shall 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?