Isa 38 | BSB | STEP | In 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.’”

Isaiah 38

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

1 In 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.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 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. 4 And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 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. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city. ^{▼▼DSS includes for My sake and for the sake of my servant David.} 7 This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: 8 I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go ten steps backward.” So [the shadow cast by] the sun went back the ten steps it had descended.

Hezekiah's Song of Thanksgiving

9 [This is] a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10 “I said that in the prime ^{▼▼Or in the quiet or in the middle} of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I will be deprived of the remainder of my years. 11 I said that I will never see the LORD, [even] the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world. 12 My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like 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. 13 I composed myself ^{▼▼Or (with Targum) I cried out} until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me. 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. 15 What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. 16 O Lord, by [such things] men live, and in all [of them] my spirit [finds] life. You have restored me to health and let me live. 17 Surely, for my welfare I 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. 18 For Sheol cannot thank You; death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. 19 The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. 20 The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.” 21 Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” 22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”