YESHAYAHU 38

1 In those days Ḥizqiyahu was sick and near death. And Yeshayahu the naḇi, the son of Amots, came to him, and said to him, “Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, ‘Put your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’ ”

2 And Ḥizqiyahu turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄,

3 and said, “I pray, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, please remember how I have walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Ḥizqiyahu wept bitterly.

4 And the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 came to Yeshayahu, saying,

5 “Go and say to Ḥizqiyahu, ‘Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, the Elohim of Dawiḏ your father, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. See, I am adding fifteen years to your days.

6 “And out of the hand of the sovereign of Ashshur I shall deliver you and this city, and protect this city.” ’

7 “And this is the sign to you from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 does this word which He has spoken:

8 “See, I am bringing the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Aḥaz, ten degrees backward.” And the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.

9 This is the writing of Ḥizqiyahu sovereign of Yahuḏah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10 I said, “Am I to go into the gates of the grave in the prime of my life? Shall I be deprived of the rest of my years?”

11 I said, “I shall not see Yah – Yah in the land of the living! I shall no longer look on man with the inhabitants of the world!

12 “My dwelling is plucked up, taken from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have cut off my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom. From day to night You make an end of me.

13 “I composed myself until morning. Like a lion, so He shatters all my bones. From day to night You make an end of me.

14 “Like a swallow or a thrush, so I chattered; I moaned like a dove; my eyes look weakly on high. O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, I am oppressed, undertake for me!

15 “What do I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has acted. Softly I go, all my years, because of the bitterness of my being.

16 “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, by these are life, and my spirit finds life in all of them. Restore me and make me live.

17 “See, for peace I had what was bitter, bitter. But You have lovingly delivered my being from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

18 “For the grave does not thank You, nor death praise You; those who go down to the pit do not watch for Your truth.

19 “The living, the living – he is praising You, as I do this day. A father makes known Your truth to his children.

20 “𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, come to save me! And let us sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the House of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.”

21 For Yeshayahu had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it on the boil, so that he lives.”

22 And Ḥizqiyahu asked, “What is the sign that I go up to the House of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄?”