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Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

^1 (C1)In those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And ^(C2)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, '^(C3)Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh³ and said, "^(C1)Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, how I have ^(C2)walked before You in truth and with a ^(C3)whole heart and ^(C4)have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah ^(C5)wept ^(F1)greatly.

⁴ Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying,⁵ "Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears; behold, I will add ^(C1)fifteen years to your ^(F1)life.⁶ "And I will ^(C1)deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city."'

⁷ "Now this shall be the ^(C1)sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this word that He has spoken:⁸ "Behold, I will ^(C1)cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the ^(C2)sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

⁹ A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and ^(F1)recovery:

¹⁰ I said, "^(C1)In the middle of my ^(F1)life
I am to enter the ^(C2)gates of Sheol;
I am to be ^(C3)deprived of the rest of my years."

¹¹ I said, "I will not see Yah,
Yah ^(C1)in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

¹² "Like a shepherd's ^(C1)tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a ^(C2)weaver I ^(C3)rolled up my life.
He ^(C4)cuts me off from the loom;
From ^(C5)day until night You make an end of me.

¹³ "I soothed my soul until morning.
^(C1)Like a lion—so He ^(C2)shatters all my bones;
From ^(C3)day until night You make an end of me.

¹⁴ "^(C1)Like a swallow, like a crane, so I chirped;
I ^(C2)moan like a dove;
My ^(C3)eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my ^(C4)security.

¹⁵ "^(C1)What shall I say?
^(F1)Indeed, He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will ^(C2)wander about all my years because of the ^(C3)bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶ "O Lord, ^(C1)by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
^(F1)(C2)O restore me to health and ^(C3)let me live!

¹⁷ "Behold, for my own well-being I had great bitterness;
But it is You who has ^(F1)(C1)held back my soul from the pit of ^(F2)nothingness,
For You have ^(C2)cast all my sins behind Your back.

¹⁸ "For ^(C1)Sheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down ^(C2)to the pit cannot keep watch for Your truth.

¹⁹ "It is the ^(C1)living, the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A ^(C2)father makes known to his sons about Your truth.

²⁰ "Yahweh is here to save me;
So we will ^(C1)play my songs on stringed instruments
^(C2)All the days of our life ^(C3)at the house of Yahweh."

²¹ Now ^(C1)Isaiah had said, "Let them take up a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may live."²² Then Hezekiah had said, "What is the ^(C1)sign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?"