Isaiah Chapter 38

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

¹ Around that time, Hezekiah got deathly ill, and Isaiah came to tell him, “The LORD says to set your house in order; you’re going to die.”

² Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed, ³ “LORD, please remember how I’ve followed you honestly with all my heart and done what you consider good.” He cried bitterly.

⁴ Then a message from the LORD came to Isaiah:

⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah that the LORD God of your ancestor David says, ‘I’ve heard your prayer and seen your tears. I’ll give you 15 more years to live ⁶ and deliver you and this city from the king of Assyria. ⁷This is the sign that I’ll do what I’ve said: ⁸ I’ll make the shadow on Ahaz’s stairway go back up 10 steps.’”

So it went back up 10 steps.

Is 38:1-8

⁹ A Writing by Hezekiah, King of Judah,

After His Illness and Recovery

¹⁰ “In the prime of life,

      I was headed for the gates of Sheol,

      deprived of the rest of my life.

¹¹ I wouldn’t see the LORD again while I was alive

         or people in this world.

¹² Where I live was being blown away

                  like a shepherd’s tent.

         I’ve been rolling up my life like a weaver;

      he was cutting me off the loom,

            ending my life in one day.

¹³ I called out for help all night;

      like a lion he was breaking all my bones,

            ending my life.

¹⁴ I chattered like a swallow and a crane

            and moaned like a pigeon;

      my weary eyes look up wistfully,

            ‘Help me, LORD, I’m oppressed.’”

Is 38:9-14

¹⁵ “What could I say?

      You let me know what you’d do and did it;

      I couldn’t sleep because of the bitterness.

¹⁶ LORD, people gain life by hard experiences;

            spiritual life comes from them all;

      now restore my health so I can live!

¹⁷ My deep anguish was for my own good;

      you’ve kept me from the Pit of destruction.

¹⁸ Sheol doesn’t thank you; death doesn’t praise you;

      those who go down to the Pit

            can’t experience hope from your faithfulness.

¹⁹ Only the living can thank you, as I do today;

         from parent to child, they tell about your faithfulness.

²⁰ The LORD will surely save me;

         so we’ll play my songs on stringed instruments  

            the rest of our lives in his Temple.”                          

²¹ Isaiah had said, “Apply fig salve to the boil so he can recover.” ²² Hezekiah had asked, “What’s the sign that I’ll go up to the LORD’s Temple?”       

Is 38:15-22