38:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. 1 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” 38:2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 38:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you 2 faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, 3 and how I have carried out your will.” 4 Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. 5
38:4 The Lord told Isaiah, 6 38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor 7 David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life, 38:6 and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’” 38:7 Isaiah replied, 8 “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: 38:8 Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” 9 And then the shadow went back ten steps. 10
38:9 This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:
38:10 “I thought, 11
‘In the middle of my life 12 I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived 13 of the rest of my years.’
38:11 “I thought,
‘I will no longer see the Lord 14 in the land of the living,
I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. 15
38:12 My dwelling place 16 is removed and taken away 17 from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; 18
from the loom he cuts me off. 19
You turn day into night and end my life. 20