Isaiah 38:7-17

7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD that the LORD will do this thing that He hath spoken:
8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.'" So the sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it had gone down.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10 I said, "In the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years."
11 I said, "I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 Mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent; I have cut off like a weaver my life. He will cut me off with pining sickness; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.
13 I reckoned till morning that, as a lion, so will He break all my bones; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me."
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me!
15 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so wilt Thou recover me and make me to live.
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but Thou hast in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.

Isaiah 38:7-17 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.

Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.