Isaiah 38:1-22
38 In those days Hez·e·kiʹah became sick and was at the point of death.+ The prophet Isaiah+ the son of Aʹmoz came and said to him, “This is what Jehovah says: ‘Give instructions to your household, for you will die; you will not recover.’”+
2 At that Hez·e·kiʹah turned his face to the wall and began to pray to Jehovah:
3 “I beg you, O Jehovah, remember,+ please, how I have walked before you faithfully and with a complete heart,+ and I have done what was good in your eyes.” And Hez·e·kiʹah began to weep profusely.
4 Then the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah, saying:
5 “Go back and say to Hez·e·kiʹah,+ ‘This is what Jehovah the God of David your forefather says: “I have heard your prayer.+ I have seen your tears.+ Here I am adding 15 years to your life,*+
6 and I will rescue you and this city out of the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a, and I will defend this city.+
7 This is the sign from Jehovah to show you that Jehovah will carry out the word that he has spoken:+
8 Here I will make the declining shadow of the sun on the stairway* of Aʹhaz go back ten steps.”’”+ So the sun went back ten steps on the stairway that it had already descended.
9 A writing* of King Hez·e·kiʹah of Judah when he became sick and recovered from his sickness.
10 I said: “In the middle of my lifeI must go into the gates of the Grave.*
I will be deprived of my remaining years.”
11 I said: “I will not see Jah,* Jah in the land of the living.+
I will look no more on mankindWhen I am with the inhabitants of the place where everything ceases.
12 My own dwelling has been pulled out and removed from me+Like the tent of a shepherd.
I have rolled up my life like a loom worker;He cuts me off like the threads of the warp.
From daylight to nightfall you keep bringing me to an end.+
13 I calm myself until the morning.
Like a lion, he keeps breaking all my bones;From daylight to nightfall you keep bringing me to an end.+
14 Like the swift or the thrush,* so I keep chirping;+I keep cooing like the dove.+
My eyes look wearily to the height:+
‘O Jehovah, I am in great distress;Be my support!’*+
15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me and acted.
I will walk humbly* all my yearsBecause of my bitter distress.*
16 ‘O Jehovah, by these things* every man lives,And in them is the life of my spirit.
You will restore me to health and preserve me alive.+
17 Look! Instead of peace, I had great bitterness;But in your fondness for me,*You preserved me from the pit of destruction.+
You have thrown all my sins behind your back.*+
18 For the Grave* cannot glorify you,+Death cannot praise you.+
Those who go down into the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.+
19 The living, the living can praise you,Just as I can this day.
A father can give his sons knowledge about your faithfulness.+
20 O Jehovah, save me,And we will play my songs on stringed instruments+All the days of our life at the house of Jehovah.’”+
21 Isaiah then said: “Bring a cake of pressed dried figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”+
22 Hez·e·kiʹah had asked: “What is the sign that I will go up to the house of Jehovah?”+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “days.”
^ Perhaps these stairs were used to count time, as on a sundial.
^ Or “composition.”
^ “Jah” is a shortened form of the name Jehovah.
^ Lit., “Be my surety.”
^ Or possibly, “crane.”
^ Or “solemnly.”
^ Or “the bitterness of my soul.”
^ That is, God’s words and deeds.
^ Or “removed all my sins from your sight.”
^ Or “my soul.”