Isaiah 38:4-14

4 Then this message came to Isaiah from the LORD :
5 “Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life,
6 and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
7 “‘And this is the sign from the LORD to prove that he will do as he promised:
8 I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!’” So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.
9 When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem:
10 I said, “In the prime of my life, must I now enter the place of the dead? Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?”
11 I said, “Never again will I see the LORD GOD while still in the land of the living. Never again will I see my friends or be with those who live in this world.
12 My life has been blown away like a shepherd’s tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over.
13 I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.
14 Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew the steps.
  • [b]. Hebrew enter the gates of Sheol?
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