CHAPTER 38

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, And said to him: Thus saith Jehovah, Give charge concerning thy house; ¹ for thou shalt die, And shalt not live.

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, And prayed to Jehovah.

3 And he said, I beseech thee, O Jehovah, remember now that I have walked before thee in truth, And with a perfect heart, And have done what was right in thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with sore weeping. ²

4 Then was communicated the word of Jehovah to Isaiah, saying,

5 Go, And say to Hezekiah: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Jacob thy father: I have heard thy prayer, And have seen thy tears: Behold, I add to thy days fifteen years.

6 And I will deliver thee And this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; And I will be a protector to this city.

7 And this shall be a sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing, of which he hath spoken:

8 Behold, I bring back the shadow of degrees, by which it hath gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees. And he sun went back on the sundial ten degrees, by which it had already gone down.

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

10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years.

11 I said, I shall not see God, God in the land of the living; I shall no longer behold man with the inhabitants of the world.

12 Sly habitation is departed, And is removed from me as a shepherds tent; I have cut off; as a weaver, my life: From lifting up ³ he will cut me off; From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

13 I reckoned ⁴ till the dawn; As a lion, so he hath broken my bones; From the dawn till night thou wilt make an end of me.

14 As a crane or a swallow, I chattered; I mourned as a dove. My eyes were lifted up on high, O Lord, it hath oppressed me; comfort me.

15 What shall I say? He who hath spoken to me hath done it. I shall be moved ⁵ all the days of my life In the bitterness of my soul.

16 O Lord, by all who shall live beyond those (years) Shall the life of my spirit (be known;) And that thou didst cause me to sleep, And didst make me alive.

17 Behold, in peace my bitterness was bitter; And thou hast been pleased (to rescue) my soul from the pit; ⁶ For thou hast east behind thy back all my sins.

18 For hell shall not confess thee; Death shall not praise thee; They that go down into the pit shall not wait for thy truth.

19 The living, the living, he shall confess to thee, As I (do) this day; The father to the sons shall make known thy truth.

20 Jehovah to save me; And we will sing our songs All the days of our life in the house of Jehovah.

21 Now, Isaiah had said, They shall take a mass of figs, and apply it to the boil, And they shall live.

22 For ⁷ Hezekiah had said, What is the sign that I shall go up into the house of the Lord?