38 In
those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son
of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine
house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then
Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, 3 And
said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee
in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in
thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. 4 Then
came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, 5 Go,
and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father,
I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto
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 defend this city. 7 And
this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this
thing that he hath spoken; 8 Behold,
I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the
sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. 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 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 the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living:
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12 Mine age is departed, and is removed
from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will
cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an
end of me. 13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a
lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make
an end of me. 14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I
chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD,
I am oppressed; undertake for me. 15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken
unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the
bitterness of my soul. 16 O LORD, by these things men live, and
in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and
make me to live. 17 Behold, for 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 grave cannot praise thee, death
can not 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 was ready to save me: therefore
we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life
in the house of the LORD. 21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a
lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover. 22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the
sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?