Isaiah 38:1-20
Common English Bible
Hezekiah’s illness
38 At about that time Hezekiah became deathly sick. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, came to him and said: “The Lord God says this: Put your affairs in order because you are about to die. You won’t survive this.”
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: 3 “Please, Lord, remember how I’ve walked before you in truth and sincerity. I’ve done what you consider to be good.” Then Hezekiah cried and cried.
4 Then the Lord’s word came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah: The Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says this: I have heard your prayer and have seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the power of the Assyrian king. I will defend this city. 7 This will be your sign from the Lord that he will do what he promised: 8 once the shadow cast by the sun descends on the steps of Ahaz, I will make it back up ten steps.” And the sun went back ten of the steps that it had already descended.
9 A composition by Judah’s King Hezekiah when he was sick and then recovered from his sickness:
10 I thought, I must depart in the prime of my life;
I have been relegated to the gates of the underworld[a] for the rest of my life.
11 I thought, I won’t see the Lord.
The Lord is in the land of the living.
I won’t look upon humans again
or be with the inhabitants of the world.
12 My lifetime is plucked up
and taken from me like a shepherd’s tent.
My life is shriveled like woven cloth;
God cuts me off from the loom.
Between daybreak and nightfall
you carry out your verdict against me.
13 I cried out[b] until morning:
“Like a lion God crushes all my bones.
Between daybreak and nightfall
you carry out your verdict against me.
14 Like a swallow[c] I chirp;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes have grown weary looking to heaven.
Lord, I’m overwhelmed; support me!”
15 What can I say?
God has spoken to me;
he himself has acted.
I will wander[d] my whole life
with a bitter spirit.
16 The Lord Most High is the one who gives life to every heart,
who gives life to the spirit![e]
17 Look, he indeed exchanged my bitterness for wholeness.[f]
You yourself have spared[g] my whole being
from the pit of destruction,
because you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
18 The underworld[h] can’t thank you,
nor can death[i] praise you;
those who go down to the pit
can’t hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living can thank you, as I do today.
Parents will tell children about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord has truly saved me,
and we will make music[j] at the Lord’s house all the days of our lives.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 38:10 Heb Sheol
- Isaiah 38:13 Or I lay down
- Isaiah 38:14 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 38:15 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 38:16 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 38:17 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 38:17 Cf LXX, Vulg; MT loved
- Isaiah 38:18 Heb Sheol
- Isaiah 38:18 Heb Maveth
- Isaiah 38:20 Or my stringed instruments
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