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Isaiah 38
Holman Christian Standard Bible

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill.(A) The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order,[a](B) for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”[b]

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,(C) and have done what pleases You.”[c](D) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah that 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 15 years to your life.[d](E) 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.(F) 7 This is the sign to you(G) from the Lord that He will do what[e] He has promised:[f] 8 I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on Ahaz’s stairway go back by 10 steps.”(H) So the sun’s shadow[g] went back the 10 steps it had descended.

9 A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

10 I said: In the prime[h] of my life[i](I)
I must go to the gates of Sheol;(J)
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;(K)
I will not look on humanity any longer
with the inhabitants of what is passing away.[j]
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent.(L)
I have rolled up my life like a weaver;(M)
He cuts me off from the loom.[k](N)
You make an end of me from day until night.(O)
13 I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion;
You make an end of me day and night.
14 I chirp like a swallow or a crane;
I moan like a dove.(P)
My eyes grow weak looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed; support me.(Q)

15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me,
and He Himself has done it.
I walk along slowly all my years(R)
because of the bitterness of my soul,(S)
16 Lord, because of these promises people live,(T)
and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well;
You have restored me to health(U)
and let me live.(V)
17 Indeed, it was for my own welfare
that I had such great bitterness;(W)
but Your love has delivered me
from the Pit of destruction,(X)
for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.(Y)
18 For Sheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You.(Z)
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.(AA)
20 The Lord will[l] save me;
we will play stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
at the house of the Lord.(AB)

21 Now Isaiah(AC) 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?”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 38:1 Lit Command your house
  2. Isaiah 38:1 Lit live
  3. Isaiah 38:3 Lit what is good in Your eyes
  4. Isaiah 38:5 Lit days
  5. Isaiah 38:7 Lit this thing
  6. Isaiah 38:7 Lit said
  7. Isaiah 38:8 Lit And the sun
  8. Isaiah 38:10 Lit quiet
  9. Isaiah 38:10 Lit days
  10. Isaiah 38:11 Some Hb mss, Tg read of the world
  11. Isaiah 38:12 Lit thrum
  12. Isaiah 38:20 Lit to
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Isaiah 38
International Standard Version

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38 During that time,[a] Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. Then Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet came to him and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die. You won’t recover.’”

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 “Please, Lord,” he said, “Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you.”[b] And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then this message[c] from the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David has to say: “I’ve heard your prayer and[d] I’ve seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I’ll save you and this city from the[e] king of Assyria, and I’ll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.[f] 7 This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will carry out this thing he has promised: 8 Watch! I will make the shadow on the steps of the upper[g] dial of Ahaz that marks the sun go ten steps backwards.”’”

Then the sunlight turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had gone down.

Hezekiah’s Prayer

9 A composition by King Hezekiah of Judah, following his illness and recovery:

10 I said, “Must I leave in the prime of my life?
    Must I be consigned to the control[h] of Sheol?[i]
        Bitter are[j] my years!”
11 I said, “I won’t see the Lord[k] in the land of the living;
    and[l] I’ll no longer observe human beings
        among the denizens of the grave.[m]
12 My house has been plucked up and vanishes[n] from me
    like a shepherd’s tent;
like a weaver, I’ve taken account of[o] my life,
    and he cuts me off from the loom—
        day and night you make an end of me.
13 I’ve been swept bare[p] until morning;
    just like a lion, he breaks all my bones—
        day and night you make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow or a crane I chirp,
    I moan like a dove.
My eyes look weakly upward.
    O Lord,[q] I am oppressed, so[r] stand up for me!
15 What can I say, so I tell myself,[s]
    since he has done this to me?[t]
I will walk slowly all my years
    because of my soul’s anguish.

16 “My Lord is against them, yet they live,
    and among all of them who live is his spirit.[u]
Now you have restored me to health,
    so let me live!
17 Yes, it was for my own good
    that I suffered extreme anguish.[v]
But in love you have held back[w] my life
    from the Pit[x] in which it has been confined;[y]
you have tossed all my sins
    behind your back.
18 For Sheol[z] cannot thank you,
    death cannot[aa] sing your praise;
and[ab] those who go down to the Pit[ac] cannot hope
    for your faithfulness.
19 The living—yes the living—they thank you,
    just as I am doing today;
fathers will tell their children
    about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,[ad]
    and we will play my music on strings
all the days of our lives
    in the Lord’s Temple.[ae]

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them prepare[af] a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

22 Hezekiah also had asked, “What will be the sign for me to go up to the Lord’s Temple?”[ag]

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 38:1 Lit. During those days
  2. Isaiah 38:3 Lit. done what is good in your eyes
  3. Isaiah 38:4 Lit. Then the word
  4. Isaiah 38:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks and
  5. Isaiah 38:6 Lit. the hand of the
  6. Isaiah 38:6 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake
  7. Isaiah 38:8 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks upper
  8. Isaiah 38:10 Lit. gates; i.e. the place where legal cases were adjudicated
  9. Isaiah 38:10 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
  10. Isaiah 38:10 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the rest of
  11. Isaiah 38:11 Lit. Yah; So 1QIsaa; MT reads Yah Yah; MTmss read Lord
  12. Isaiah 38:11 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
  13. Isaiah 38:11 Lit. cessation; or the end; So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss read the world
  14. Isaiah 38:12 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read and has been taken away
  15. Isaiah 38:12 So 1QIsaa; MT reads have rolled up
  16. Isaiah 38:13 So 1QIsaa; or I cried for help; MT reads I was composed; cf. Targ
  17. Isaiah 38:14 So 1QIsaa MT; 1QIsab reads Lord
  18. Isaiah 38:14 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks so
  19. Isaiah 38:15 So 1QIsaa; MT reads for he has spoken to me
  20. Isaiah 38:15 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and it is he who has done it
  21. Isaiah 38:16 So 1QIsaa; MT reads is the life of my spirit
  22. Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read bitter, bitter
  23. Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; MT reads you have loved
  24. Isaiah 38:17 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
  25. Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; MT reads pit of destruction
  26. Isaiah 38:18 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
  27. Isaiah 38:18 So 1QIsaa LXX; implied in 1QIsab MT
  28. Isaiah 38:18 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
  29. Isaiah 38:18 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
  30. Isaiah 38:20 At this point a later scribe inserted into 1QIsaa a repetition of v. 19 and the beginning of v. 20, but with some different spellings and a word missing.
  31. Isaiah 38:20 The same second scribe continued with the rest of this verse; not originally in 1QIsaa.
  32. Isaiah 38:21 So MT; LXX reads Take; 1QIsaa lacks Let them prepare
  33. Isaiah 38:22 So 1QIsab MT LXX; 1QIsaa lacks vs. 21-22; a later, third scribe, includes vs. 21-22
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Isaiah 37
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