Isaiah 38:14-39:8

English Standard Version

¹⁴Like ^(A)a swallow or a crane I chirp;
    ^(B)I moan like a dove.
^(C)My eyes are weary with looking upward.
    O Lord, I am oppressed; ^(D)be my pledge of safety!
¹⁵What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,
    and he himself has done it.
^(E)I walk slowly all my years
    because of the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶^(F)O Lord, by these things men live,
    and in all these is the life of my spirit.
    Oh restore me to health and make me live!
¹⁷^(G)Behold, it was for my welfare
    that I had great bitterness;
^(H)but in love you have delivered my life
    from the pit of destruction,
^(I)for you have cast all my sins
    behind your back.
¹⁸^(J)For Sheol does not thank you;
    death does not praise you;
those who go down to the pit do not hope
    for your faithfulness.
¹⁹The living, the living, he thanks you,
    as I do this day;
^(K)the father makes known to the children
    your faithfulness.

²⁰The Lord will save me,
and we will play my music on stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
^(L)at the house of the Lord.

²¹^(M)Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” ²²Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”

Envoys from Babylon

39 ^(N)At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(O)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. ²And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, ^(P)the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. ^(Q)There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ³Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” ⁴He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: ⁶^(R)Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ⁷^(S)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ⁸Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, ^(T)“There will be peace and security in my days.”