Isaiah 38

1In those days Hezekiah fell ill and was close to death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “The LORD says this: Give final instructions to your household, for you are dying and will not live.” 2Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the LORD. 3He said, “Please, LORD, remember how I have lived before you faithfully and with an undivided heart, doing what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept loudly.

4Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: 5“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says this: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Now I will add fifteen years to your days. 6I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria, and I will shield this city. 7And this will be your sign from the LORD that the LORD will carry out what he has said: 8Look, I will make the shadow that the sun has brought down the steps of Ahaz turn back ten steps.’” Then the sun turned back ten steps on the steps down which it had gone.

9A writing by Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness: 10I said, “At the midpoint of my days I must go into the gates of Sheol; I am robbed of the years that remain to me.” 11I said, “I will not see Yah, Yah, in the land of the living. I will look on human beings no more, once I dwell with those whose life has ceased.” 12My dwelling is uprooted and taken from me, like the tent of a shepherd. I have rolled up my life as a weaver rolls up cloth; he cuts me free from the threads of the loom. Before day turns to night you put an end to me. 13I lay quiet until morning; like a lion he crushes all my bones. Before day turns to night you put an end to me. 14I chatter like a swift or a crane; I coo and mourn like a dove. My eyes fail as I gaze on high. Lord, I am overwhelmed; be my guarantor! 15What am I to say? He spoke to me, and he carried it out. I will go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. 16Lord, these are the things people live by, and my spirit draws its life from all of them. Heal me, and let me live! 17Yes, my bitter, bitter pain turned out for my good. Because you loved my life, you drew it back from the pit of ruin; you have tossed all my sins behind your back. 18For Sheol does not give you thanks; death offers you no praise. Those who sink into the pit cannot look to your faithfulness. 19It is the living, the living who thank you, as I am doing now. A father teaches his children about your faithfulness. 20The LORD has come to save me! So all the days of our life we will make music on my strings at the house of the LORD. 21Isaiah had told them, “Have someone bring a lump of pressed figs and spread it on the sore, and he will live.” 22And Hezekiah had asked, “What sign is there to show that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”