Isaiah 38

1 In those days was Hizkiyahu sick to death. Yesha`yahu the prophet the son of Amotz came to him, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.
2 Then Hizkiyahu turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD,
3 and said, Remember now, the LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. Hizkiyahu wept sore.
4 Then came the word of the LORD to Yesha`yahu, saying,
5 Go, and tell Hizkiyahu, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add to your days fifteen years.
6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Ashshur; and I will defend this city.
7 This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has spoken:
8 behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which is gone down on the dial of Achaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the dial whereon it was gone down.
9 The writing of Hizkiyahu king of Yehudah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.
10 I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of She'ol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living: I shall see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent: I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the loom: From day even to night will you make an end of me.
13 I quieted [myself] until morning; as a lion, so he breaks all my bones: From day even to night will you make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow [or] a crane, so did I chatter; I did moan as a dove; my eyes fail [with looking] upward: Lord, I am oppressed, be my collateral.
15 What shall I say? he has both spoken to me, and himself has done it: I shall go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 Lord, by these things men live; Wholly therein is the life of my spirit: You restore me, and cause me to live.
17 Behold, [it was] for [my] shalom [that] I had great bitterness: But you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; For you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18 For She'ol can't praise you, death can't celebrate you: Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day: The father to the children shall make known your truth.
20 The LORD is [ready] to save me: Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
21 Now Yesha`yahu had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster on the boil, and he shall recover.
22 Hizkiyahu also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?

Isaiah 38 Commentaries

The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.