Isaiah 38

Hezekiah’s Illness

¹In those days, Hezekiah became sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Order your house, for you are about to die, and you shall not recover.’ ”

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh,[#Or “And”]

³and he said, “O Yahweh, please remember how I have walked before your presence in faithfulness with a whole heart, and I have done the good in your eyes!” And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.[#Or “that”; #Literally “face”]

⁴Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying,[#Or “And”; #Or “was”]

⁵“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your ancestor: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your days.[#Or “father”; #Literally, “Behold me; he will add,” but in this context it makes better sense to change the “he” to “I”; most translations follow this emendation]

⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’

⁷And this is the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken:

⁸Look! I will cause the shadow of the steps, which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to turn backwards ten steps.” And the sun turned back ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.

⁹A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he was sick and had recovered from his sickness:

¹⁰I was the one who said, “I must go in the quiet of my days;

¹¹I said, “I shall not see Yah! Yah in the land of the living!

¹²My dwelling place is pulled up and removed from me like the tent of my shepherd;

He cuts me off from the thrum;

¹³I lie down until morning;[#Or “cry out”]

¹⁴Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp;

My eyes are weak toward the height.

¹⁵What can I say? For he has spoken to me,[#Or “And”]

I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, they live by them, and the life of my spirit belongs to all among them.

And restore me to health and keep me alive!

¹⁷Look! Bitterness was bitter to me for peace.

And you were the one who loved my life from the pit of destruction,

¹⁸For Sheol cannot praise you; death cannot praise you.

¹⁹The living, the living one praises you like me today;

²⁰Yahweh, save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the temple of Yahweh.”[#Or “house”]

²¹And Isaiah said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and let them rub it on the boil so that he may recover.”[#Literally “lift up”; #Or “and”]

²²And Hezekiah said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of Yahweh?”[#Or “house”]