Isaiah 38:5-20

38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life, 38:6 and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’” 38:7 Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: 38:8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” And then the shadow went back ten steps.

Hezekiah’s Song of Thanks

38:9 This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:

38:10 “I thought,

‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol,

I am deprived of the rest of my years.’

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.

38:12 My dwelling place is removed and taken away from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth;

from the loom he cuts me off.

You turn day into night and end my life.

38:13 I cry out until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life.

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky.

O sovereign master, I am oppressed;

help me!

38:15 What can I say?

He has decreed and acted.

I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief.

38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;

may years of life be restored to me.

Restore my health and preserve my life.’

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit.

You delivered me from the pit of oblivion.

For you removed all my sins from your sight.

38:18 Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks;

death does not praise you.

Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.

38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,

as I do today.

A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me,

and we will celebrate with music

for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.”