Isaiah 38

Wycliffe Bible

38 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto the death; and Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, entered to him, and said to him, The Lord saith these things, Dispose thy house, for thou shalt die, and thou shalt not live. (In those days Hezekiah was sick unto the death; and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, went to him, and said to him, The Lord saith these things, Set thy affairs in order, for soon thou shalt die, and thou shalt not live.)

² And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed the Lord,

³ and said, Lord, I beseech; have thou mind, I beseech, how I went before thee in truth, and in perfect heart, and I did that that was good before thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with great weeping. (and said, Lord, I beseech thee; remember, I beseech thee, how I went before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and I did what was good before thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.)

⁴ And the word of the Lord was made to Isaiah, and said,

⁵ Go thou, and say to Hezekiah, The Lord God of David, thy father, saith these things, I have heard thy prayer, and I saw thy tears. Lo! I shall add on(to) thy days fifteen years;

⁶ and I shall deliver thee and this city from the hand of the king of Assyrians, and I shall defend it.

⁷ Forsooth this shall be to thee a sign of the Lord, that the Lord shall do this word, which he hath spoken. (For this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord shall do this thing, which he hath spoken.)

⁸ Lo! I shall make the shadow of lines, by which it went down in the horologe of Ahaz, in the sun, to turn again backward by ten lines. And the sun turned again by ten lines, by [the] degrees by which it had gone down. (Lo! I shall make the shadow, cast by the sun, which went down on the stairway of Ahaz, to turn backward, or to go up, ten steps. And so the sun went back up ten steps on the stairway, on which it had just gone down.)

⁹ The scripture of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

¹⁰ I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell. I sought the residue of my years; (I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go now to the gates of Sheol, that is, to the gates of the land of the dead/I shall go now to the gates of the grave; I shall be deprived of the rest of my years;)

¹¹ I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of livers; I shall no more behold a man, and a dweller of rest. (I said, I shall no longer see the Lord God in the land of the living; I shall no longer see any person, or any other inhabitant of this world.)

¹² My generation is taken away, and is folded together from me, as the tabernacle of shepherds is folded together. My life is cut down as of a web; he cutted down me, the while I was woven yet. (My source of life is folded up, and taken away from me, like a shepherd’s tent is folded up. My life is cut down like a web; he cut me down, while I was still weaving it.)

¹³ From the morrowtide till to the eventide (I felt like) thou shalt end me; I hoped till to the morrowtide; as a lion, so he all-brake my bones. From the morrowtide till to the eventide (I felt like) thou shalt end me; (From the morning until the evening I felt like thou shalt end me; then I was in pain until the morning again; like a lion, thou hast broken all my bones. From the morning until the evening I felt like thou shalt end me;)

¹⁴ as the young of a swallow, so I shall cry; I shall bethink as a culver (I shall moan like a dove). Mine eyes beholding on high, be made feeble. Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me;

¹⁵ what shall I say, either what shall he answer to me, when he hath done (this)? I shall bethink to thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul. (what shall I say, or what shall he answer to me, when he himself hath done this? I shall think about thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul.)

¹⁶ Lord, if men liveth so (Lord, if people so liveth), and the life of my spirit is in such things, (then) thou shalt chastise me, and shalt quicken me.

¹⁷ Lo! my bitterness is most bitter in peace (Lo! peace was my bitterness, and it was most bitter); forsooth thou hast delivered my soul, that it perished not; thou hast cast away behind thy back all my sins.

¹⁸ For not hell shall acknowledge to thee, neither death shall praise thee; they that go down into the pit, shall not abide thy truth. (For Sheol, or the grave, shall not acknowledge thee, nor shall death praise thee; and they who go down into the pit, shall not wait for thy truth.)

¹⁹ A living man, a living man, he shall acknowledge to thee, as and I today; the father shall make known thy truth to [the] sons. (But a living man, yea, a living man, he shall acknowledge thee, like I do today; and the father shall make thy truth known to his children.)

²⁰ Lord, make thou me safe, and we shall sing our psalms in all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. (Lord, thou hast saved me, and so we shall sing our songs all the days of our lives in the House of the Lord.)

²¹ And Isaiah commanded, that they should take a gobbet of figs, and make a plaster on the wound; and it should be healed. (For Isaiah had commanded, that they should take a piece of figs, and put a plaster on the wound; and then he would be healed.)

²² And Hezekiah said, What sign shall be, that I shall ascend into the house of the Lord? (And then Hezekiah had said, What shall be the sign, that I shall go up into the House of the Lord again?)