Isaiah 38:1-13

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.’” 38:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ²  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ³  and how I have carried out your will.” ⁴  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁵ 

38:4 The Lord told Isaiah, ⁶  38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor ⁷  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, ⁸  “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.” ⁹  And then the shadow went back ten steps. ¹⁰ 

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, ¹¹ 

‘In the middle of my life ¹²  I must walk through the gates of Sheol,

I am deprived ¹³  of the rest of my years.’

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord ¹⁴  in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ¹⁵ 

38:12 My dwelling place ¹⁶  is removed and taken away ¹⁷  from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; ¹⁸ 

from the loom he cuts me off. ¹⁹ 

You turn day into night and end my life. ²⁰ 

38:13 I cry out ²¹  until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life. ²² 

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

[38:3]  ² tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.

[38:3]  ³ tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”

[38:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”

[38:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”

[38:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying.”

[38:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “father” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).

[38:7]  ⁸ tn The words “Isaiah replied” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the present form of the Hebrew text v. 7 is joined directly to v. 6, but vv. 21-22, if original to Isaiah 38, must be inserted here. See 2 Kgs 20:7-8.

[38:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”

[38:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”

[38:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:10]  ¹² tn The precise meaning of the phrase בִּדְמִי יָמַי (bidmi yamay, “in the [?] of my days”) is uncertain. According to HALOT 226 s.v. דְּמִי this word is a hapax legomenon meaning “half.” Others derive the form from דַּמִי (dami, “quiet, rest, peacefulness”).

[38:10]  ¹³ tn The precise meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Pual of of פָּקַד (paqad) occurs only here and in Exod 38:21, where it appears to mean “passed in review” or “mustered.” Perhaps the idea is, “I have been called away for the remainder of my years.” To bring out the sense more clearly, one can translate, “I am deprived of the rest of my years.”

[38:11]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.

[38:11]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

[38:12]  ¹⁶ tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.

[38:12]  ¹⁷ tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”

[38:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).

[38:12]  ¹⁹ sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.

[38:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[38:13]  ²¹ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.

[38:13]  ²² tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”