38:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.
38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh,
38:3 and said, Remember now, O Yahweh, I urge you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept intensely.
38:4 Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying,
38:5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: look, I will add to your days fifteen years.
38:6 And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.
38:7 And this will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken:
38:8 Look, I will move back the shadow of the steps, which has gone down on the steps from the Upper House of Ahaz - [I will move back] the sun backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the steps on which it had gone down.
38:9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.
38:10 I said, In the noontide of my days I will go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the remainder of my years.
38:11 I said, I will not see Yah, Yah in the land of the living: I will not see man anymore with the inhabitants of this world.
38:12 My dwelling is removed, and is 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 loom: From day even to night you will make an end of me.
38:13 I quieted [myself] until morning; as a lion, so he breaks all my bones: From day even to night you will make an end of me.
38:14 Like a swallow [or] a crane, so I chattered; I moaned as a dove; my eyes fail [with looking] upward: O Lord, I am oppressed, be my surety.
38:15 What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it: I will go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
38:16 O Lord, by these things men live; And wholly in them is the life of my spirit: Therefore you recover me, and make me to live.
38:17 Look, [it was] for [my] peace [that] I had great bitterness: But you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; For you have cast all my sins behind your back.
38:18 For Sheol can't praise you, death can't celebrate you: Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth.
38:19 The living, the living, he will praise you, as I do this day: The father to the sons will make known your truth.
38:20 Yahweh is [ready] to save me: Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life in the house of Yahweh.