Hezekiah’s Life Extended(A)

38 In (B)those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: (C)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”

Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, and said, (D)“Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a [a]loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your (E)sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and (F)I will defend this city.” ’ And this is (G)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken: Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.

This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10 I said,
“In the prime of my life
I shall go to the gates of Sheol;
I am deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11 I said,
“I shall not see [b]Yah,
The Lord (H)in the land of the living;
I shall observe man no more [c]among the inhabitants of [d]the world.
12 (I)My life span is gone,
Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent;
I have cut off my life like a weaver.
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 I have considered until morning—
Like a lion,
So He breaks all my bones;
From day until night You make an end of me.
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered;
(J)I mourned like a dove;
My eyes fail from looking upward.
O [e]Lord, I am oppressed;
[f]Undertake for me!

15 “What shall I say?
[g]He has both spoken to me,
And He Himself has done it.
I shall walk carefully all my years
(K)In the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live;
And in all these things is the life of my spirit;
So You will restore me and make me live.
17 Indeed it was for my own peace
That I had great bitterness;
But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 For (L)Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You,
As I do this day;
(M)The father shall make known Your truth to the children.

20 “The Lord was ready to save me;
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments
All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”

21 Now (N)Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.”

22 And (O)Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”

The Babylonian Envoys(P)

39 At (Q)that time [h]Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. (R)And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a (S)far country, from Babylon.”

And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”

So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, the days are coming (T)when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ‘And they shall take away some of your (U)sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, (V)“The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”

God’s People Are Comforted(W)

40 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
“Speak [i]comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
(X)For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”

(Y)The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
(Z)“Prepare the way of the Lord;
(AA)Make straight [j]in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
(AB)The crooked places shall be made [k]straight
And the rough places smooth;
The (AC)glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The voice said, “Cry out!”
And [l]he said, “What shall I cry?”

(AD)“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But (AE)the word of our God stands forever.”

O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord God shall come [m]with a strong hand,
And (AF)His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, (AG)His reward is with Him,
And His [n]work before Him.
11 He will (AH)feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.

12 (AI)Who has measured the [o]waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a [p]span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13 (AJ)Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And (AK)taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as (AL)nothing,
And (AM)they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

18 To whom then will you (AN)liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19 (AO)The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20 Whoever is too impoverished for such [q]a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
(AP)To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

21 (AQ)Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who (AR)stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a (AS)tent to dwell in.
23 He [r]brings the (AT)princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24 Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25 “To(AU) whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
(AV)He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

27 (AW)Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
(AX)His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who (AY)wait on the Lord
(AZ)Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 38:3 whole or peaceful
  2. Isaiah 38:11 Heb. Yah, Yah
  3. Isaiah 38:11 LXX omits among the inhabitants of the world
  4. Isaiah 38:11 So with some Heb. mss.; MT, Vg. rest; Tg. land
  5. Isaiah 38:14 So with Bg.; MT, DSS Lord
  6. Isaiah 38:14 Be my surety
  7. Isaiah 38:15 So with MT, Vg.; DSS, Tg. And shall I say to Him; LXX omits first half of this verse
  8. Isaiah 39:1 Berodach-Baladan, 2 Kin. 20:12
  9. Isaiah 40:2 Lit. to the heart of
  10. Isaiah 40:3 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX omits in the desert
  11. Isaiah 40:4 Or a plain
  12. Isaiah 40:6 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, LXX, Vg. I
  13. Isaiah 40:10 in strength
  14. Isaiah 40:10 recompense
  15. Isaiah 40:12 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; DSS adds of the sea; Tg. adds of the world
  16. Isaiah 40:12 A span .5 cubit, 9 inches; or the width of His hand
  17. Isaiah 40:20 an offering
  18. Isaiah 40:23 reduces

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