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1In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”[#tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”]
2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord ,
3“Please, Lord . Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.[#tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.; #tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”; #tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”; #tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”]
4The Lord told Isaiah,[#tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying.”]
5“Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,[#tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).]
6and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’”
21Isaiah ordered, “Let them take a fig cake and apply it to the ulcerated sore and he will get well.”[#tc If original to Isaiah 38, vv. 21-22 have obviously been misplaced in the course of the text’s transmission, and would most naturally be placed here, between Isa 38:6 and 38:7. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8, where these verses are placed at this point in the narrative, not at the end. Another possibility is that these verses were not in the original account, and a scribe, familiar with the 2 Kgs version of the story, appended vv. 21-22 to the end of the account in Isaiah 38.]
22Hezekiah said, “What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord ’s temple?”
7Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said:[#tn The words “Isaiah replied” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the present form of the Hebrew text v. 7 is joined directly to v. 6, but vv. 21-22, if original to Isaiah 38, must be inserted here. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.]
8Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” And then the shadow went back ten steps.[#tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.; #tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”]
9This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:
10“I thought,[#tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).]
‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived of the rest of my years.’
11“I thought,
‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living,
I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.
12My dwelling place is removed and taken away from me[#tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.; #tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”]
like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth;
from the loom he cuts me off.
You turn day into night and end my life.
13I cry out until morning;[#tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.]
like a lion he shatters all my bones;
you turn day into night and end my life.
14Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,
I coo like a dove;
my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky.
O sovereign master, I am oppressed;
help me!
15What can I say?
He has decreed and acted.
I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief.
16O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;
may years of life be restored to me.
Restore my health and preserve my life.’
17“Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit.[#tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”]
You delivered me from the pit of oblivion.
For you removed all my sins from your sight.
18Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks;[#tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).]
death does not praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
19The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,
as I do today.
A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.
20The Lord is about to deliver me,[#tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.]
and we will celebrate with music
for the rest of our lives in the Lord ’s temple.”