Isaiah 38

1In those days Hezekiah fell dangerously ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “Thus said GOD: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die; you will not get well.”

2Thereupon Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to GOD.

3“Please, O ETERNAL One,” he said, “remember how I have walked before You sincerely and wholeheartedly, and have done what is pleasing to You.” And Hezekiah wept profusely.

4Then the word of GOD came to Isaiah:

5“Go and tell Hezekiah: Thus said GOD, the God of your forefather David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. I hereby add fifteen years to your life.

6I will also rescue you and this city from the hands of the king of Assyria. I will protect this city.

7And this is the sign for you from GOD that GOD will do the thing that was promised:

8I am going to make the shadow on the steps, which has descended on the dial of Ahaz because of the sun, recede ten steps.” And the sun[’s shadow] receded ten steps, the same steps as it had descended.

9A poem by King Hezekiah of Judah when he recovered from the illness he had suffered:

10I had thought:I must depart in the middle of my days;I have been consigned to the gates of SheolFor the rest of my years.

11I thought, I shall never see Yah, Yah in the land of the living,Or ever behold humans againAmong those who inhabit the earth.

12My dwelling is pulled up and removed from meLike a tent of shepherds;My life is rolled up like a webAnd cut from the thrum.Only from daybreak to nightfallWas I kept whole,

13Then it was as though a lionWere breaking all my bones;I cried out until morning.(Only from daybreak to nightfallWas I kept whole.)

14I piped like a swift or a swallow,I moaned like a dove,As my eyes, all worn, looked to heaven:“My Sovereign, I am in straits;Be my surety!”

15What can I say? It had been promised me, By the One who has wrought it.All my sleep had fledBecause of the bitterness of my soul.

16My Sovereign, for all that and despite itMy life-breath is revived; You have restored me to health and revived me.

17Truly, it was for my own goodThat I had such great bitterness:You saved my lifeFrom the pit of destruction,For You have cast behind Your backAll my offenses.

18For it is not Sheol that praises You,Not [the Land of] Death that extols You;Nor do they who descend into the PitHope for Your grace.

19The living, only the livingCan give thanks to YouAs I do this day;Fathers relate to childrenYour acts of grace:

20“[It has pleased] GOD to deliver us, That is why we offer up music is a poetic form of neginoth. All the days of our livesAt the House of GOD.”

21When Isaiah said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the rash, and he will recover,”

22Hezekiah asked, “What will be the sign that I shall go up to the House of GOD?”