Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies
(2 Kings 20.1-11; 2 Chronicles 32.24-26)
38 About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. So I went in and told him, “The Lord says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, and so you had better start doing what needs to be done.”
2 Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, 3 “Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried hard.
4 Then the Lord sent me 5 with this message for Hezekiah:
I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will let you live 15 more years, 6 while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria.
7 Now I will prove to you that I will keep my promise. 8 Do you see the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway built for King Ahaz? I will make the shadow go back ten steps.
Then the shadow went back ten steps.[a]
King Hezekiah's Song of Praise
9 This is what Hezekiah wrote after he got well:
10 I thought I would die
during my best years
and stay as a prisoner forever
in the world of the dead.
11 I thought I would never again
see you, my Lord,
or any of the people
who live on this earth.
12 My life was taken from me
like the tent that a shepherd
pulls up and moves.
You cut me off like thread
from a weaver's loom;
you make a wreck of me
day and night.
13 Until morning came, I thought
you would crush my bones
just like a hungry lion;
both night and day
you make a wreck of me.[b]
14 I cry like a swallow;
I mourn like a dove.
My eyes are red
from looking to you, Lord.
I am in terrible trouble.
Please come and help me.[c]
15 There's nothing I can say
in answer to you,
since you are the one
who has done this to me.[d]
My life has turned sour;
I will limp until I die.
16 Your words and your deeds
bring life to everyone,
including me.[e]
Please make me healthy
and strong again.
17 It was for my own good
that I had such hard times.
But your love protected me
from doom in the deep pit,[f]
and you turned your eyes
away from my sins.
18 (A) No one in the world of the dead
can thank you or praise you;
none of those in the deep pit
can hope for you
to show them
how faithful you are.
19 Only the living can thank you,
as I am doing today.
Each generation tells the next
about your faithfulness.[g]
20 You, Lord, will save me,
and every day that we live
we will sing in your temple
to the music
of stringed instruments.
Isaiah's Advice to Hezekiah
21 I had told King Hezekiah's servants to put some mashed figs on the king's open sore, and he would get well. 22 Then Hezekiah asked for proof that he would again worship in the Lord's temple.
Footnotes
- 38.8 steps: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 8.
- 38.13 of me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
- 38.14 help me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 14.
- 38.15 There's … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 38.16 Your … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 38.17 deep pit: The world of the dead, as in verse 18.
- 38.19 about your faithfulness: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.