Isaiah 38:9-20

New Century Version

¹⁰ I said, “I am in the middle of my life.
    Do I have to go through the gates of death?
    Will I have the rest of my life taken away from me?”
¹¹ I said, “I will not see the Lord
    in the land of the living again.
I will not again see the people
    who live on the earth.
¹² Like a shepherd’s tent,
    my home has been pulled down and taken from me.
I am finished
    like the cloth a weaver rolls up and cuts from the loom.^[a]
    In one day you brought me to this end.
¹³ All night I cried loudly.
    Like a lion, he crushed all my bones.
    In one day you brought me to this end.
¹⁴ I cried like a bird
    and moaned like a dove.
My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens.
    Lord, I have troubles. Please help me.”

¹⁵ What can I say?
    The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen.
I have had these troubles in my soul,
    so now I will be humble all my life.
¹⁶ Lord, because of you, people live.
    Because of you, my spirit also lives;
you made me well and let me live.
¹⁷ It was for my own good
    that I had such troubles.
Because you love me very much,
    you did not let me die
but threw my sins
    far away.
¹⁸ People in the place of the dead cannot praise you;
    those who have died cannot sing praises to you;
those who die don’t trust you
    to help them.
¹⁹ The people who are alive are the ones who praise you.
    They praise you as I praise you today.
A father should tell his children
    that you provide help.
²⁰ The Lord saved me,
    so we will play songs on stringed instruments
in the Temple of the Lord
    all the days of our lives.