Isaiah 38:7-22 ▼

7 And this shall be the sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He hath spoken:

8 behold, I will cause the shadow of the dial, which is gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, to return backward ten degrees.' So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.

10 I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go, Even to the gates of the nether-world; I am deprived of the residue of my years.

11 I said: I shall not see the LORD, Even the LORD in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

12 My habitation is plucked up and carried away from me As a shepherd's tent; I have rolled up like a weaver my life; He will cut me off from the thrum; From day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

13 The more I make myself like unto a lion until morning, The more it breaketh all my bones; From day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

14 Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove; Mine eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.

15 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, And Himself hath done it; I shall go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.and removed the sorrow of my soul.

16 O Lord, by these things men live, And altogether therein is the life of my spirit; Wherefore recover Thou me, and make me to live.

17 Behold, for my peace I had great bitterness; But Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it From the pit of corruption; For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.

18 For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, Death cannot celebrate Thee; They that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.

19 The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, As I do this day; The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.

20 The LORD is ready to save me; Therefore we will sing songs to the stringed instruments All the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

21 And Isaiah said: 'Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.'

22 And Hezekiah said. 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?'