Isaiah
Chapter 38
1 Hezekiah was very sick and near death. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, came to him and said, “God says, ‘Get your home ready, because you are going to die; you will not survive.’”
2 Hezekiah turned to face the wall and prayed to God.
3 He said, “Please remember, God, how I have lived in truth before you with a faithful heart, doing what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah cried a lot.
4 God spoke to Isaiah, saying,
5 Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘God, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. Look, I will extend your life by fifteen years.’
6 I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria’s control, and I will protect this city.
7 This will be a sign for you from God: God will do what he has said.
8 Look, I will make the shadow that has moved down Ahaz’s sundial go back ten steps. So the shadow moved back ten steps from where it had gone down.
9 This is the message from Hezekiah, the king of Judah, when he was sick and then got better from his illness.
10 I said when my life was being cut short, I will go to the gates of death: I will miss out on the rest of my years.
11 I said, I will not see God, God, among those alive: I will no longer see people with those on earth.
12 My life has passed and is gone like a shepherd’s tent: I have ended my own life like a weaver: God will finish me off with wasting illness: from day to night you will end me.
13 I thought until morning that, like a lion, he would break all my bones; from day to night you will finish me.
14 Like a bird or a swallow, I chirped: I cried like a dove: my eyes are tired from looking up: Oh God, I am overwhelmed; help me.
15 What should I say? God has spoken to me and made it happen: I will walk gently all my life feeling the bitterness in my heart.
16 God, by these things people live, and in all these is my spirit’s life: so you will heal me and let me live.
17 Look, I was very bitter when I wanted peace, but because you love me, you saved me from total destruction; you have put all my sins out of sight.
18 The grave cannot praise you, death cannot honor you; those who go into the pit cannot hope for your truth.
19 Living people will praise you, just like I do today; parents will tell their children about your truth.
20 God was ready to save me, so we will sing my songs with stringed instruments every day of our life in God’s house.
21 Isaiah said, “Let them take a lump of figs and put it on the boil as a poultice, and he will get better.”
22 Hezekiah also asked, “What is the sign that I will go to God’s house?”