Isaiah 38:9-20
World English Bible
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.
10 I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol.[a]
I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
11 I said, “I won’t see Yah,
Yah in the land of the living.
I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling is removed,
and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He will cut me off from the loom.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
13 I waited patiently until morning.
He breaks all my bones like a lion.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
14 I chattered like a swallow or a crane.
I moaned like a dove.
My eyes weaken looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed.
Be my security.”
15 What will I say?
He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it.
I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
16 Lord, men live by these things;
and my spirit finds life in all of them:
you restore me, and cause me to live.
17 Behold, for peace I had great anguish,
but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;
for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18 For Sheol[b] can’t praise you.
Death can’t celebrate you.
Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today.
The father shall make known your truth to the children.
20 Yahweh will save me.
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in Yahweh’s house.
Isaiah 38:9-20
International Standard Version
Hezekiah’s Prayer
9 A composition by King Hezekiah of Judah, following his illness and recovery:
10 I said, “Must I leave in the prime of my life?
Must I be consigned to the control[a] of Sheol?[b]
Bitter are[c] my years!”
11 I said, “I won’t see the Lord[d] in the land of the living;
and[e] I’ll no longer observe human beings
among the denizens of the grave.[f]
12 My house has been plucked up and vanishes[g] from me
like a shepherd’s tent;
like a weaver, I’ve taken account of[h] my life,
and he cuts me off from the loom—
day and night you make an end of me.
13 I’ve been swept bare[i] until morning;
just like a lion, he breaks all my bones—
day and night you make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow or a crane I chirp,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes look weakly upward.
O Lord,[j] I am oppressed, so[k] stand up for me!
15 What can I say, so I tell myself,[l]
since he has done this to me?[m]
I will walk slowly all my years
because of my soul’s anguish.
16 “My Lord is against them, yet they live,
and among all of them who live is his spirit.[n]
Now you have restored me to health,
so let me live!
17 Yes, it was for my own good
that I suffered extreme anguish.[o]
But in love you have held back[p] my life
from the Pit[q] in which it has been confined;[r]
you have tossed all my sins
behind your back.
18 For Sheol[s] cannot thank you,
death cannot[t] sing your praise;
and[u] those who go down to the Pit[v] cannot hope
for your faithfulness.
19 The living—yes the living—they thank you,
just as I am doing today;
fathers will tell their children
about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,[w]
and we will play my music on strings
all the days of our lives
in the Lord’s Temple.[x]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 38:10 Lit. gates; i.e. the place where legal cases were adjudicated
- Isaiah 38:10 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
- Isaiah 38:10 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the rest of
- Isaiah 38:11 Lit. Yah; So 1QIsaa; MT reads Yah Yah; MTmss read Lord
- Isaiah 38:11 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 38:11 Lit. cessation; or the end; So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss read the world
- Isaiah 38:12 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read and has been taken away
- Isaiah 38:12 So 1QIsaa; MT reads have rolled up
- Isaiah 38:13 So 1QIsaa; or I cried for help; MT reads I was composed; cf. Targ
- Isaiah 38:14 So 1QIsaa MT; 1QIsab reads Lord
- Isaiah 38:14 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks so
- Isaiah 38:15 So 1QIsaa; MT reads for he has spoken to me
- Isaiah 38:15 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and it is he who has done it
- Isaiah 38:16 So 1QIsaa; MT reads is the life of my spirit
- Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read bitter, bitter
- Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; MT reads you have loved
- Isaiah 38:17 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
- Isaiah 38:17 So 1QIsaa; MT reads pit of destruction
- Isaiah 38:18 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
- Isaiah 38:18 So 1QIsaa LXX; implied in 1QIsab MT
- Isaiah 38:18 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 38:18 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
- Isaiah 38:20 At this point a later scribe inserted into 1QIsaa a repetition of v. 19 and the beginning of v. 20, but with some different spellings and a word missing.
- Isaiah 38:20 The same second scribe continued with the rest of this verse; not originally in 1QIsaa.
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