Isaiah 38:3-13

3 "Remember, Lord, that I have served you faithfully and loyally, and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to." And he began to cry bitterly.
4 Then the Lord commanded Isaiah
5 to go back to Hezekiah and say to him, "I, the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will let you live fifteen years longer.
6 I will rescue you and this city of Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria, and I will continue to protect the city."
7 Isaiah replied, "The Lord will give you a sign to prove that he will keep his promise.
8 On the stairway built by King Ahaz, the Lord will make the shadow go back ten steps." And the shadow moved back ten steps.
9 After Hezekiah recovered from his illness, he wrote this song of praise:
10 I thought that in the prime of life I was going to the world of the dead, Never to live out my life.
11 I thought that in this world of the living I would never again see the Lord Or any living person.
12 My life was cut off and ended, Like a tent that is taken down, Like cloth that is cut from a loom. I thought that God was ending my life.
13 All night I cried out with pain, As if a lion were breaking my bones. I thought that God was ending my life.

Isaiah 38:3-13 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.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. stairway . . . ten steps . . . steps; [or] sundial . . . ten degrees . . . degrees [(see 2 K 20.9-11).]
  • [b]. I thought . . . my life; [Hebrew unclear.]
  • [c]. [Verse 13 in Hebrew is unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.