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Isaiah 38:1-8
New English Translation

The Lord Hears Hezekiah’s Prayer

38 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness.[a] The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you[b] faithfully and with wholehearted devotion,[c] and how I have carried out your will.”[d] Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.[e]

4 The Lord’s message came to Isaiah, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor[f] David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will also rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’” 7 Isaiah replied,[g] “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: 8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.”[h] And then the shadow went back ten steps.[i]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 38:1 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”
  2. Isaiah 38:3 tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.
  3. Isaiah 38:3 tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”
  4. Isaiah 38:3 tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”
  5. Isaiah 38:3 tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”
  6. Isaiah 38:5 tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).
  7. Isaiah 38:7 tn The words “Isaiah replied” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the present form of the Hebrew text v. 7 is joined directly to v. 6, but vv. 21-22, if original to Isaiah 38, must be inserted here. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.
  8. Isaiah 38:8 tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which it [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.
  9. Isaiah 38:8 tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”
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Isaiah 37
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