Isaiah 38:9-20

GOD’S WORD Translation

⁹King Hezekiah of Judah wrote this after he was sick and became well again:

¹⁰I thought that in the prime of my life
I would go down to the gates of Sheol
and be robbed of the rest of my life.
¹¹I thought that I wouldn’t see the Lord in this world.
Even with all the people in the world,
I thought I would never see another person.
¹²My life was over.
You rolled it up like a shepherd’s tent.
You rolled up my life like a weaver.
You cut me off from the loom.
You ended my life in one day.
¹³I cried out until morning
as if a lion had crushed all my bones.
You ended my life in one day.
¹⁴I chirped like swallows and cranes.
I cooed like doves.
My eyes were tired from looking up to heaven.
I’ve suffered miserably, O Lord!
Please help me!

¹⁵What can I say now that he has spoken to me?
He has done this.
I will be careful the rest of my life because of my bitter experience.
¹⁶Lord, people live in spite of such things,
and I have the will to live in spite of them.
You give me health and keep me alive.
¹⁷Now my bitter experience turns into peace.
You have saved me and kept me from the rotting pit.
You have thrown all my sins behind you.
¹⁸Sheol doesn’t thank you!
Death doesn’t praise you!
Those who go down to the pit cannot expect you to be faithful.
¹⁹Those who are living praise you as I do today.
Fathers make your faithfulness known to their children.
²⁰The Lord is going to rescue me,
so let us play stringed instruments.
We live our lives in the Lord’s temple.