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¹ About this tyme was Hezekia sicke vnto death, and the prophete Esai the sonne of Amos came vnto hym, and sayde, Thus commaundeth the Lorde: Set thyne house in order, for thou must dye, and shalt not escape.² Then Hezekia turned his face toward the wall, and prayed vnto the Lorde,³ And sayde: Remember O Lorde I beseche thee, that I haue walked before thee in trueth and a stedfast heart, & haue done the thyng that is pleasaunt to thee. And Hezekia wept sore.⁴ Then sayde God vnto Esai,⁵ Go and speake vnto Ezekia: The Lord God of Dauid thy father sendeth thee this worde, I haue hearde thy prayer, and considered thy teares: beholde I wyll put fifteene yeres mo vnto thy lyfe,⁶ And deliuer thee and the citie also from the hande of the kyng of Assyria: for I wyll defende the citie.⁷ And take thee this token of the Lord, that he wyll do it as he hath spoken.⁸ Beholde, I wyll returne the shadowe of Ahaz diall that nowe is layde out with the sunne, and bring it ten degrees backwarde: So the sunne turned ten degrees backwarde, the which he was descended afore.

⁹ A thankesgeuyng which Hezekia kyng of Iuda wrote, when he had ben sicke and was recouered.¹⁰ I thought I shoulde haue gone to the gates of hell when myne age was shortened, and haue wanted the residue of my yeres.¹¹ I spake within my selfe, I wyll neuer visite the Lorde [the Lorde I say] in this lyfe: I wyll neuer see man among the dwellers of the worlde.¹² Myne age is folden together & taken away from me lyke a sheepheardes cotage, I haue hewen of my lyfe by my sinnes, lyke as a weauer cutteth of his webbe: He wyll with pinyng sicknesse make an ende of me, yea he wyll make an ende of me in one day.¹³ I thought I woulde haue lyued vntyll the morowe, but he brused my bones lyke a lion: and in one day thou wylt make an ende of me.¹⁴ Then chattered I lyke a swallowe, and lyke a crane, and mourned lyke a doue, I lift vp mine eyes into the heyght: O Lorde [sayde I] my sicknesse kepeth me downe, ease thou me.¹⁵ What shall I say? The Lorde hath made a promise to me, yea and he hym selfe hath perfourmed it: I shall therefore so long as I lyue remember this bitternesse of my lyfe.¹⁶ O Lorde, to all those that shall lyue hereafter, yea to all men shall it be knowen, that euen in those yeres I haue a ioyfull lyfe, and that it was thou that causedst me to sleepe agayne, thou hast geuen lyfe to me.¹⁷ Beholde, bitter as gall was my pensiuenesse, so sore longed I for health, and it was thy pleasure to deliuer my lyfe from the filthy pit: for thou it is [O Lorde] that hast cast all my sinnes behynde thy backe.¹⁸ For hell prayseth not thee, death doth not magnifie thee: they that go downe into the graue prayse not thy trueth:¹⁹ But the lyuyng, yea the lyuyng knowledge thee, as I do this day: the father telleth his children of thy faythfulnesse.²⁰ To heale me it is the Lordes worke, and we will sing my songes in the house of the Lorde all the dayes of our lyfe.²¹ And Esai sayde: Take a plaster of figges, and lay it vpon the sore, so shall it be whole.²² Then sayd Hezekia: O what a miracle is this, that I shall go vp into the house of the Lorde.