Isaiah 38:5-15

5 "Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add 1fifteen * years to your life.
6 "I will 2deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city."'
7 "This shall be the 3sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken:
8 "Behold, I will 4cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the 5sun'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, "6In the middle of my life I am to enter the 7gates of Sheol; I am to be 8deprived of the rest of my years."
11 I said, "I will not see the LORD, The LORD 9in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 "Like a shepherd's 10tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a 11weaver I 12rolled up my life. He 13cuts me off from the loom; From 14day until night You make an end of me.
13 "I composed my soul until morning. 15Like a lion -so He 16breaks all my bones, From 17day until night You make an end of me.
14 "18Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I 19moan like a dove; My 20eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my 21security.
15 "22What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will 23wander about all my years because of the 24bitterness of my soul.

Isaiah 38:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 38

This chapter gives an account of Hezekiah's sickness, recovery, and thanksgiving on that account. His sickness, and the nature of it, and his preparation for it, as directed to by the prophet, Isa 38:1, his prayer to God upon it, Isa 38:2,3 the answer returned unto it, by which he is assured of living fifteen years more, and of the deliverance and protection of the city of Jerusalem from the Assyrians, Isa 38:4-6, the token of his recovery, the sun going back ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz, Isa 38:7,8, a writing of Hezekiah's upon his recovery, in commemoration of it, Isa 38:9, in which he represents the deplorable condition he had been in, the terrible apprehensions he had of things, especially of the wrath and fury of the Almighty, and his sorrowful and mournful complaints, Isa 38:10-14, he observes his deliverance according to the word of God; expresses his faith in it; promises to retain a cheerful sense of it; owning that it was by the promises of God that he had lived as other saints did; and ascribes his preservation from the grave to the love of God to him, of which the forgiveness of his sins was an evidence, Isa 38:15-17, the end of which salvation was, that he might praise the Lord, which he determined to do, on stringed instruments, Isa 38:18-20, and the chapter is closed with observing the means of curing him of his boil; and that it was at his request that the sign of his recovery was given him, Isa 38:21,22.

Cross References 24

  • 1. 2 Kings 18:2, 13
  • 2. Isaiah 31:5; Isaiah 37:35
  • 3. Judg 6:17, 21, 36-40; Isaiah 7:11, 14; Isaiah 37:30
  • 4. 2 Kings 20:9-11
  • 5. Joshua 10:12-14
  • 6. Psalms 102:24
  • 7. Psalms 107:18
  • 8. Job 17:11, 15; 2 Corinthians 1:9
  • 9. Psalms 27:13; Psalms 116:9
  • 10. 2 Corinthians 5:1, 4; 2 Peter 1:13, 14
  • 11. Job 7:6
  • 12. Hebrews 1:12
  • 13. Job 6:9
  • 14. Job 4:20; Psalms 73:14
  • 15. Job 10:16
  • 16. Psalms 51:8; Daniel 6:24
  • 17. Psalms 32:4
  • 18. Job 30:29; Psalms 102:6
  • 19. Isaiah 59:11; Ezekiel 7:16; Nahum 2:7
  • 20. Psalms 119:123
  • 21. Job 17:3; Psalms 119:122
  • 22. Psalms 39:9
  • 23. 1 Kings 21:27
  • 24. Job 7:11; Job 10:1; Isaiah 38:17

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Lit "days"
  • [b]. Lit "he lived after his illness"
  • [c]. Lit "days"
  • [d]. Targum and DSS read "And what shall I say for He"
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