Isaiah 38:1-11

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz came unto him and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the LORD,
3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
5 Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer; I have seen thy tears behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.
7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD that the LORD will do this thing that he has spoken:
8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness:
10 I said in the cutting off of my days; I shall go to the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see JAH, even JAH, in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

Isaiah 38:1-11 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.

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010