Isaiah 38:17-39:7

New International Version

¹⁷Surely it was for my benefit^(A)
    that I suffered such anguish.^(B)
In your love you kept me
    from the pit^(C) of destruction;
you have put all my sins^(D)
    behind your back.^(E)
¹⁸For the grave^(F) cannot praise you,
    death cannot sing your praise;^(G)
those who go down to the pit^(H)
    cannot hope for your faithfulness.
¹⁹The living, the living—they praise^(I) you,
    as I am doing today;
parents tell their children^(J)
    about your faithfulness.

²⁰The Lord will save me,
and we will sing^(K) with stringed instruments^(L)
all the days of our lives^(M)
in the temple^(N) of the Lord.

²¹Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

²²Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign^(O) that I will go up to the temple of the Lord?”

Envoys From Babylon^(P)

39 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon^(Q) sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. ²Hezekiah received the envoys^(R) gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold,^(S) the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures.^(T) There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,^(U)” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

⁴The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word^(V) of the Lord Almighty: ⁶The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.^(W) Nothing will be left, says the Lord. ⁷And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.^(X)”