Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
1 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. 38:1–8 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: ‘Set your house in order, 38:1 2Sm 17:23 for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ " 38:1 Lit live
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 He said, "Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly, 38:3 Gn 17:1; 1Kg 2:4; 3:6; 8:23; 2Kg 18:5–6; Ps 26:3 and have done what pleases you." 38:3 Dt 6:18 And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 "Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘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 fifteen years to your life. 38:5 Lit days, also in v. 10, 38:5 2Kg 18:2,136 And I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city. 38:6 Is 31:5; 37:357 This is the sign to you 38:7 Is 37:30 from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: 8 I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on the stairway of Ahaz go back by ten steps.’ " 38:8 Jos 10:12–14 So the sun’s shadow 38:8 Lit And the sun went back the ten steps it had descended.
9 A poem by King Hezekiah of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10 I said: In the prime 38:10 Lit quiet of my life 38:10 Ps 102:24
I must go to the gates of Sheol; 38:10 Ps 107:18
I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11 I said: I will never see the Lord,
the Lord in the land of the living; 38:11 Ps 27:13; 116:9
I will not look on humanity any longer
with the inhabitants of what is passing away. 38:11 Some Hb mss, Tg read of the world
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent. 38:12 2Co 5:1,4; 2Pt 1:13–14
I have rolled up my life like a weaver; 38:12 Jb 7:6; Heb 1:12
he cuts me off from the loom. 38:12 Jb 6:9
By nightfall 38:12 Lit From day until night, also in v. 13 you make an end of me. 38:12 Jb 4:20; Ps 73:14
13 I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion.
By nightfall you make an end of me.
14 I chirp like a swallow or a crane;
I moan like a dove. 38:14 Is 59:11; Ezk 7:16; Nah 2:7
My eyes grow weak looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed; support me. 38:14 Jb 17:3; Ps 119:122
15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
I walk along slowly all my years 38:15 1Kg 21:27
because of the bitterness of my soul. 38:15 1Sm 1:10; Ezk 27:31; Jb 3:20; 7:11; 10:1
16 Lord, by such things people live, 38:16 Ps 119:71,75
and in every one of them my spirit finds life;
you have restored me to health 38:16 Ps 39:13
and let me live. 38:16 Ps 119:25
17 Indeed, it was for my own well-being
that I had such intense bitterness; 38:17 Heb 12:11
but your love has delivered me
from the Pit of destruction, 38:17 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. 38:17 Is 43:25; Jr 31:34; Mc 7:19
18 For Sheol cannot thank you;
Death cannot praise you. 38:18 Ps 6:5; 30:9; 88:10–12; 115:17
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, only the living can thank you,
as I do today;
a father will make your faithfulness known to children. 38:19 Dt 6:7; 11:19; Ps 78:5–7
20 The Lord is ready to save me;
we will play stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
at the house of the Lord. 38:20 Ps 23:6; 116:17–19
21 Now Isaiah 38:21–22 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." 22 And Hezekiah had asked, "What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple? "