1 Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery In those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh
3 and said, “Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept 38:3Lit great weeping greatly.
4 Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying,
5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your 38:5Lit days life.
6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.” ’
7 “Now this shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this word that He has spoken:
8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the sun’sshadowwent back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and 38:9Lit he lived after his illness recovery:
10 I said, “In the middle of my 38:10Lit days lifeI am to enter the gates of Sheol;I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.”
11 I said, “I will not see Yah,Yah in the land of the living;I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 “Like a shepherd’s tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;As a weaver I rolled up my life.He cuts me off from the loom;From day until night You make an end of me.
13 “I soothedmy souluntil morning.Like a lion—so He shatters all my bones;From day until night You make an end of me.
14 “Like a swallow,likea crane, so I chirped;I moan like a dove;My eyes look wistfully to the heights;O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15 ¶“What shall I say? 38:15DSS and Targum And what shall I say for He Indeed, He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 “O Lord, bythesethingsmenlive,And in all these is the life of my spirit; 38:16Lit You will O restore me to health and let me live!
17 ¶“Behold, formy ownwell-being I had great bitterness;But it is You who has 38:17As in some versions; Heb loved held back my soul from the pit of 38:17Or destruction nothingness,For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 “For Sheol cannot thank You;Death cannot praise You;Those who go down to the pit cannot keep watch for Your truth.
19 “It is the living, the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;A father makes known to his sons about Your truth.
20 “Yahwehis hereto save me;So we will play my songs on stringed instrumentsAllthedays of our life at the house of Yahweh.”
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take up a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may live.”
22 Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?”