Isaiah 38:1

The Lord Hears Hezekiah’s Prayer

38:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. ¹  The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”

Isaiah 66:8

66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?

Who has ever seen this?

Can a country ²  be brought forth in one day?

Can a nation be born in a single moment?

Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!

[38:1]  ¹ tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying”; NRSV “became sick and was at the point of death.”

[66:8]  ² tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).