Isaiah 38:9

9 A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

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 is the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do what He has promised:
8 I am going to make the sun's shadow that goes down on Ahaz's stairway return by 10 steps." So the sun's shadow went back the 10 steps it had descended.
9 A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10 I said: In the prime of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11 I said: I will never see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I will not look on humanity any longer with the inhabitants of what is passing away.
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