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Isaiah 38
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International Standard Version
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During that time, Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. Then Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet came to him and told him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Put your house in order, because you are going to die. You won't recover.'"
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Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD.
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"Please, LORD," he said, "Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
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Then this message from the LORD came to Isaiah:
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"Go tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David has to say: "I've heard your prayer and I've seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life.
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I'll save you and this city from the king of Assyria, and I'll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
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This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will carry out this thing he has promised:
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Watch! I will make the shadow on the steps of the upper dial of Ahaz that marks the sun go ten steps backwards."'" Then the sunlight turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had gone down.
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—A composition by King Hezekiah of Judah, following his illness and recovery:
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I said, "Must I leave in the prime of my life? Must I be consigned to the control of Sheol? Bitter are my years!"
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I said, "I won't see the LORD in the land of the living; and I'll no longer observe human beings among the denizens of the grave.
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My house has been plucked up and vanishes from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver, I've taken account of my life, and he cuts me off from the loom— day and night you make an end of me.
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I've been swept bare until morning; just like a lion, he breaks all my bones— day and night you make an end of me.
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Like a swallow or a crane I chirp, I moan like a dove. My eyes look weakly upward. O Lord, I am oppressed, so stand up for me!
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What can I say, so I tell myself, since he has done this to me? I will walk slowly all my years because of my soul's anguish.
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"My Lord is against them, yet they live, and among all of them who live is his spirit. Now you have restored me to health, so let me live!
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Yes, it was for my own good that I suffered extreme anguish. But in love you have held back my life from the Pit in which it has been confined; you have tossed all my sins behind your back.
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For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot sing your praise; and those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
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The living—yes the living—they thank you, just as I am doing today; fathers will tell their children about your faithfulness.
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The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on strings all the days of our lives in the LORD's Temple.
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Now Isaiah had said, "Let them prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover."
22
Hezekiah also had asked, "What will be the sign for me to go up to the LORD's Temple?"
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1
Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.
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