Isaiah 38
Hezekiah became ill and was near death, and Isaiah told him that he would not recover. Hezekiah prayed to God, reminding Him of his faithfulness and weeping bitterly. God heard Hezekiah's prayer and sent Isaiah to tell him that He would add 15 years to his life and rescue him and Jerusalem from the Assyrians. As a sign, God caused the sun to move backward 10 lines on the sundial of Ahaz.
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was near death. And so, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet, entered to him, and he said to him: "Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you shall die, and you shall not live.And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he prayed to the LordAnd he said: "I beg you, Lord, I beseech you, to remember how I walked before you in truth and with a whole heart, and that I have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept with a great weepingAnd the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying"Go and say to Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your daysAnd I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect itAnd this will be a sign for you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word, which he has spokenBehold, I will cause the shadow of the lines, which has now descended on the sundial of Ahaz, to move in reverse for ten lines." And so, the sun moved backward by ten lines, through the degrees by which it had descendedThe writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, after he had fallen ill and had recovered from his sickness"I said: In the middle of my days, I will go to the gates of Hell. So I sought the remainder of my yearsI said: I will not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I will no longer behold man, nor the habitation of restMy longevity has been taken away; it has been folded up and taken from me, like the tent of a shepherd. My life has been cut off, as if by a weaver. While I was still beginning, he cut me off. From morning until evening, you have marked out my limitsI hoped, even until morning. Like a lion, so has he crushed all my bones. From morning until evening, you have marked my limitsI will cry out, like a young swallow. I will meditate, like a dove. My eyes have been weakened by gazing upward. O Lord, I suffer violence! Answer in my favorWhat can I say, or what would he answer me, since he himself has done this? I will acknowledge to you all my years, in the bitterness of my soulO Lord, if such is life, and if the life of my spirit is of such a kind, may you correct me and may you cause me to liveBehold, in peace my bitterness is most bitter. But you have rescued my soul, so that it would not perish. You have cast all my sins behind your backFor Hell will not confess to you, and death will not praise you. Those who descend into the pit will not hope for your truthThe living, the living, these will give praise to you, as I also do this day! The father will make the truth known to the sonsO Lord, save me! And we will sing our psalms, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.Now Isaiah had ordered them to take a paste of figs, and to spread it like plaster over the wound, so that he would be healedAnd Hezekiah said, "What will be the sign that I may go up to the house of the Lord?
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