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those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set 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 He said,
“Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before You faithfully and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed I will add to your life fifteen years. 6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the Assyria, and I will defend this city” ’.
7 “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has promised: 8 ‘Behold, I will cause the shadow cast by the sun as it goes down on the sundial of Ahaz to go back ten steps’.”
So the sun returned back the ten steps it had gone down on the dial.
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10 I said, “In the midst of my life
I must go through the gates of Sheol;
I am robbed of the remainder of my years.”
11 I said, “I will not see the Lord,
the Lord, in the land of the living;
no longer will I look upon mankind,
or be numbered among the world’s inhabitants.
12 My dwelling is taken up,
and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent.
Like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
He cuts me off from the loom;
from day until night You make an end of me.”
13 I thought carefully until morning:
Like a lion He breaks all my bones;
from day until night You make end of me.
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chatter;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes grow weary from looking upward.
O Lord, I am troubled; be my help!
15 But what can I say?
He has both spoken to me,
and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about humbly all my years
in the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by such things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health
and let me live!
17 Surely it was for peace
that I had great bitterness;
but in love You have delivered
my soul from the pit of destruction,
for You have cast all my sins
behind Your back.
18 For Sheol cannot thank You,
death cannot praise You;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living, they give thanks to You,
as I do this day;
the father tells his son
about Your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me;
so we will sing with stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
in the House of the Lord.
21 Isaiah had instructed: “Have them prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
22 Hezekiah had asked, “What is the sign that I will go up to the House of the Lord?”