Isaiah 38 — AAB

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38Verse 1In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”^{Verse 2}Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,^{Verse 3}saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.^{Verse 4}And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,^{Verse 5}“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.^{Verse 6}And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.^{+Verse 7}This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:^{Verse 8}I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’”
So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.

Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving

^{Verse 9}This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:^{Verse 10}I said, “In the prime⁺of my lifeI must go through the gates of Sheol
and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”^{Verse 11}I said, “I will never again see the LORD,even the LORD, in the land of the living;I will no longer look on mankindwith those who dwell in this world.^{Verse 12}My dwelling has been picked up and removed from melike a shepherd’s tent.I have rolled up my life like a weaver;He cuts me off from the loom;
from day until night You make an end of me.^{Verse 13}I composed myself⁺until the morning.Like a lion He breaks all my bones;
from day until night You make an end of me.^{Verse 14}I chirp like a swallow or crane;I moan like a dove.My eyes grow weak as I look upward.O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”^{Verse 15}What can I say?He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this.I will walk slowly all my yearsbecause of the anguish of my soul.^{Verse 16}O Lord, by such things men live,and in all of them my spirit finds life.You have restored me to healthand have let me live.^{Verse 17}Surely for my own welfareI had such great anguish;but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion,for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.^{Verse 18}For Sheol cannot thank You;Death cannot praise You.Those who descend to the Pitcannot hope for Your faithfulness.^{Verse 19}The living, only the living, can thank You,as I do today;fathers will tell their childrenabout Your faithfulness.^{Verse 20}The LORD will save me;we will play songs on stringed instrumentsall the days of our livesin the house of the LORD.^{Verse 21}Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”^{Verse 22}And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”