Isaiah 38:9

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

Isaiah 38:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 38:9

The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah
The Septuagint and Arabic versions call it a "prayer": but the Targum, much better,

``a writing of confession;''
in which the king owns his murmurings and complaints under his affliction, and acknowledges the goodness of God in delivering him out of it: this he put into writing, as a memorial of it, for his own benefit, and for the good of posterity; very probably he carried this with him to the temple, whither he went on the third day of his illness, and hung it up in some proper place, that it might be read by all, and be sung by the priests and the Levites; and the Prophet Isaiah has thought fit to give it a place among his prophecies, that it might be transmitted to future ages: when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness;
or, "on his being sick F5"; on his sickness and recovery, which were the subject matter of his writing, as the following show; though it is true also of the time of writing it, which was after he had been ill, and was well again.
FOOTNOTES:

F5 (wtwlxb) "in aegrotando ipsum", Montanus.

Isaiah 38:9 In-Context

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 stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10 I said, "In the middle of my life I 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 the LORD , The LORD in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit "he lived after his illness"
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