MSB ISA Chapter 38

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

(2 Kings 20:1–11, 2 Chronicles 32:24–31)

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said“This is what the LORD says:‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ”

2 

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 saying,“Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done [what is] good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 

And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says:‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.[fn] 7 This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: 8 I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’ ”

So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.

9 

Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving

[This is] a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery

10 

I said,“ In the prime[fn] of my life

I must go through the gates of Sheol

[and] be deprived of the remainder of my years.”

11 

I said,“ I will never again see the LORD,

[even] the LORD, in the land of the living;

I will no longer look on mankind

with those who dwell in this world.

12 

My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I have rolled up my life like a weaver;

He cuts me off from the loom;

from day until night You make an end of me.

13 

I composed myself[fn] until the morning.

Like a lion He breaks all my bones;

from day until night You make an end of me.

14 

I chirp like a swallow or crane

I moan like a dove.

My eyes grow weak [as I look] upward.

O Lord, I am oppressed be my security.”

15 

What can I say?

He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this.

I will walk slowly all my years

because of the anguish of my soul.

16 

O Lord, by [such things] men live,

and in all [of them] my spirit [finds] life.

You have restored me to health

and have let me live.

17 

Surely for my own welfare

I had such great anguish;

but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion,

for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

18 

For Sheol cannot thank You;

Death cannot praise You.

Those who descend to the Pit

cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

19 

The living, only the living, can thank You,

as I do today

fathers will tell their children

about Your faithfulness.

20 

The LORD will save me;

we will play songs on stringed instruments

all the days of our lives

in the house of the LORD.

21 

Now Isaiah had said,“Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

22 

And Hezekiah had asked,“What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”