In those days was Hezekiah1 sick and near death. The prophet Shaya2 son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says YAHWEH,3 ‘Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.'”
2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to YAHWEH, 3and said, “Remember now, YAHWEH, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the Word of YAHWEH came to Shaya, saying, 5“Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says YAHWEH, the God4 of Dawud5 your father, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add to your days fifteen years. 6I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city. 7This shall be the sign to you from YAHWEH, that YAHWEH will do this thing that he has spoken: 8behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which is gone down on the dial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.”‘” So the sun returned ten steps on the dial whereon it was gone down.
9The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick but had recovered of his sickness:
10I said, “In the noontide of my days I will go into the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
11I said, “I will not see YAH, YAH6 in the land of the living:
I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like 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 will you make an end of me.
13I quieted myself until morning; as a lion, so he breaks all my bones:
From day even to night will you make an end of me.
14I chattered like a swallow or a crane;
I moaned like a dove; my eyes fail with looking upward:
Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.”
15What 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.
16Lord, men live by these things;
and my spirit finds life in all of them.
You restore me, and cause me to live.
17Behold, it was for my peace that I had great anguish:
But you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;
For you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you:
Those who go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.
19The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day:
The father to the children shall make known your truth.
20YAHWEH is going to save me:
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments
All the days of our life in the House of YAHWEH.
21Now Shaya had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster on the boil, and he shall recover.” 22Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the House of YAHWEH?”
- 38:1 Hezekiah, this Hebrew name means “YAHWEH strengthens.” ↩︎
- 38:1 Shaya, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Isaiah, which means “YAHWEH is salvation.” ↩︎
- 38:1 YAHWEH, the name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 38:5 God, English translation of elohim. Elohim (Hebrew) is related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 38:5 Dawud, this Arabic name is derived from David (Hebrew) and means “Beloved.” ↩︎
- 38:11 YAH, abbreviated form of YAHWEH, for which see note 1 above. ↩︎