Isaiah 38:5

5 Go thou, and say to Hezekiah, The Lord God of David, thy father, saith these things, I have heard thy prayer, and I saw thy tears. Lo! I shall add on(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, Lord, I beseech; have thou mind, I beseech, how I went before thee in truth, and in perfect heart, and I did that that was good before thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with great weeping. (and said, Lord, I beseech thee; remember, I beseech thee, how I went before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and I did what was good before thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.)

4 And the word of the Lord was made to Isaiah, and said,

5 Go thou, and say to Hezekiah, The Lord God of David, thy father, saith these things, I have heard thy prayer, and I saw thy tears. Lo! I shall add on(to) thy days fifteen years;

6 and I shall deliver thee and this city from the hand of the king of Assyrians, and I shall defend it.

7 Forsooth this shall be to thee a sign of the Lord, that the Lord shall do this word, which he hath spoken. (For this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord shall do this thing, which he hath spoken.)