Isaiah 38:5

5 Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years:

Isaiah 38:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 38:5

Go and say to Hezekiah
Turn again, and tell him, ( 2 Kings 20:5 ) : thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father;
this is said, to show that he remembered the covenant he made with David his father, concerning the kingdom, and the succession of his children in it; and that he had a regard to him, as walking in his steps: I have heard thy prayer;
and therefore was not surely a foolish one, as Luther somewhere calls it, since it was heard and answered so quickly: I have seen thy tears;
which he shed in prayer, and so studiously concealed from others, when he turned his face to the wall: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years;
that is, to the days he had lived already, and beyond which it was not probable, according to the nature of his disease, he could live; and besides, he had the sentence of death pronounced on him, and had it within himself, nor did he pray for his life; so that these fifteen years were over and above what he could or did expect to live; and because it was unusual in such a case, and after such a declaration made, that a man should live, and especially so long a time after, it is ushered in with a "behold", as a note of admiration; it being a thing unheard of, and unprecedented, and entirely the Lord's doing, and which, no doubt, was marvellous in the eyes of the king.

Isaiah 38:5 In-Context

3 And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.

4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying:

5 Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years:

6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.

7 And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word which he hath spoken: