38:1 In those days Hezekiah became ①mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’ ”
▷ ①Lit sick to death
38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
38:3 and said, “Please, LORD, just remember how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept ①profusely.
▷ ①Lit great weeping
38:4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
38:5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David says: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your ①life.
▷ ①Lit days
38:6 And I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city.” ’
38:7 “And this shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will perform this word that He has spoken:
38:8 Behold, I will make the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
38:9 This is a writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and ①recovery:
▷ ①Lit he lived after his illness
38:10 I said, “In the middle of my ①life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I have been deprived of the rest of my years.”
▷ ①Lit days
38:11 I said, “I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will no longer look on mankind among the inhabitants of the world.
38:12 Like a shepherd’s tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life.
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
38:13 I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
38:14 Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
38:15 “What shall I say?
①For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will walk ②quietly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
▷ ①Targum and DSS And what shall I say for He ②Or slowly
38:16 Lord, by these things people live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
①Restore me to health and let me live!
▷ ①Lit You will
38:17 Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
But You have ①kept my soul from the pit of ②nothingness,
For You have hurled all my sins behind Your back.
▷ ①As in some ancient versions; MT loved ②Or destruction
38:18 For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
38:19 It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
38:20 The LORD is certain to save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD.”
38:21 Now Isaiah had said, “Have them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”
38:22 Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”