Isaiah 38:1-13 ▼

1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, |Thus says the LORD, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'|

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

3 and said, |Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.| And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,

5 |Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, |I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

6 |I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.|'

7 |This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken:

8 |Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.| So the sun's [shadow] went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

10 I said, |In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol; I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.|

11 I said, |I will not see the LORD, The LORD in the land of the living; I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

12 |Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.

13 |I composed [my soul] until morning. Like a lion-- so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me.