Isaiah 38:9-20

Modern English Version

¹⁰ I said: In the middle of my days,
    I shall go to the gates of Sheol;
    I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.
¹¹ I said, I shall not see the Lord,
    even the Lord, in the land of the living;
I shall see man no more
    with the inhabitants of the world.
¹² My dwelling is pulled up
    and removed from me as a shepherd’s tent;
I rolled up my life like a weaver.
    He cuts me off from the loom;
    from day even to night You make an end of me.
¹³ I composed my soul until morning,
    like a lion, so He breaks all my bones;
    from day even to night You make an end of me.
¹⁴ Like a crane or a swallow, so I twitter;
    I mourn as a dove;
my eyes look wistfully upward.
    O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

¹⁵ What shall I say?
    For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it.
I shall wander about all my years
    in the bitterness of my soul.
¹⁶ O Lord, by these things men live,
    and in all these things is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health
    and make me live!
¹⁷ Surely it was for my own peace
    that I had great bitterness;
but You have kept my soul
    from the pit of corruption,
for You have cast all my sins
    behind Your back.
¹⁸ For Sheol cannot thank You,
    death cannot praise You;
those who go down into the pit
    cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
¹⁹ It is the living who give thanks to You,
    as I do this day;
a father explains to his sons
    about Your faithfulness.

²⁰ The Lord shall surely save me;
    therefore, we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
    in the house of the Lord.