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The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 38

Isaiah 38: Hezekiah's sickness, the sun's shadow, and his writing

General context

In those days Hezekiah is sick unto death, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, brings the Lord's word: set thine house in order, for thou shalt die. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall, prays the Lord to remember how he has walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart, and weeps sore. The word of the Lord comes to Isaiah again: the Lord, the God of David thy father, has heard the prayer and seen the tears, will add fifteen years, and will deliver him and the city from the king of Assyria. The sign is that the shadow on the sun dial of Ahaz goes ten degrees backward, and the sun returns ten degrees. Then comes the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his recovery. He says he expected to go to the gates of the grave and see the Lord no more in the land of the living; his life is removed like a shepherd's tent and cut off like a weaver's work; he reckoned until morning that God would break his bones like a lion; he chattered like a crane or swallow and mourned like a dove, asking the Lord to undertake for him. He asks what he can say, since the Lord has both spoken and done it. For peace he had bitterness, but the Lord in love delivered him from the pit and cast all his sins behind his back. The grave cannot praise the Lord, but the living do, and his songs will be sung to stringed instruments in the house of the Lord. The chapter closes by recording that Isaiah had said to lay a lump of figs on the boil, and that Hezekiah had asked what the sign was that he would go up to the house of the Lord.

Cited passages: Isaiah 38:1, Isaiah 38:2, Isaiah 38:3, Isaiah 38:5, Isaiah 38:6, Isaiah 38:8, Isaiah 38:9, Isaiah 38:10, Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 38:12, Isaiah 38:13, Isaiah 38:14, Isaiah 38:15, Isaiah 38:16, Isaiah 38:17, Isaiah 38:18, Isaiah 38:19, Isaiah 38:20, Isaiah 38:21, Isaiah 38:22

Isaiah 38 (KJV)

1In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,

3And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

4Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,

5Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

6And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

7And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken;

8Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

9The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

10I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

11I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

12Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

13I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

14Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

15What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

16O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

17Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

18For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

19The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

20The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

21For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

22Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?

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Historical context

The chapter places the sickness in those days, tying it to the Assyrian crisis of chapters 36 and 37 by the promise to deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, but it does not say whether the sickness came before or after the camp was struck. Hezekiah's illness is described only as a boil in verse 21. The Lord is called the God of David thy father, which the text uses to place Hezekiah in David's line without giving a genealogy. The sun dial of Ahaz is named without explanation of its form, and the text says both that the shadow goes back ten degrees and that the sun returned ten degrees. Verse 9 introduces the writing as Hezekiah's own, and verses 10 to 20 are in the first person; this heading is part of the printed verse text, not a superscription. Verses 21 and 22 are placed after the writing but refer back to the sickness, using had said twice. A parallel account appears in 2 Kings 20:1, which reads, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him; 2 Kings 20:7 records the figs as an act, And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered, where this chapter reports it as something Isaiah had said.

Cited passages: Isaiah 38:1, Isaiah 38:6, Isaiah 38:21, Isaiah 38:5, Isaiah 38:8, Isaiah 38:9, Isaiah 38:22, 2 Kings 20:1, 2 Kings 20:7

Literary context

The chapter has a short narrative frame and a long first-person poem. The narrative moves in four steps: sentence of death, prayer with tears, reversal with fifteen years, and a sign. Isaiah's two messages match each other, thou shalt die and I will add unto thy days, and the second answers the first with heard and seen: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. The writing is built on I said, twice, reporting what Hezekiah expected, and on images of ending: the gates of the grave, a shepherd's tent taken down, a life cut off like a weaver's work, a lion breaking bones. Bird sounds, crane, swallow and dove, carry the prayer itself. The turn comes at verse 17, where for peace I had great bitterness gives way to delivered from the pit, and the reason for living is stated as praise: the grave cannot praise thee, the living, the living shall. The poem ends in the house of the Lord with songs and stringed instruments, and the chapter ends with two flashbacks about figs and a sign that a reader must fit back into the earlier narrative. Chapter 39 opens with letters from Babylon prompted by the news of this sickness.

Cited passages: Isaiah 38:1, Isaiah 38:5, Isaiah 38:10, Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 38:12, Isaiah 38:13, Isaiah 38:14, Isaiah 38:17, Isaiah 38:18, Isaiah 38:19, Isaiah 38:20, Isaiah 39:1

Key moments

  1. Set thine house in order (Isaiah 38:1). Isaiah tells the sick Hezekiah that the Lord says he will die.
  2. Face to the wall (Isaiah 38:3). Hezekiah prays the Lord to remember his walk and weeps sore.
  3. Fifteen years added (Isaiah 38:5). The Lord has heard the prayer and seen the tears and adds fifteen years.
  4. The shadow goes back (Isaiah 38:8). The sun returns ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz as a sign.
  5. Hezekiah's writing begins (Isaiah 38:10). The king recalls expecting the gates of the grave.
  6. Sins cast behind thy back (Isaiah 38:17). Hezekiah says the Lord delivered him from the pit in love.
  7. The living shall praise thee (Isaiah 38:19). Hezekiah says the living, not the grave, praise the Lord.

For reflection

Hezekiah asks the Lord to remember his perfect heart, and then in his writing says the Lord cast all his sins behind his back. What does the text leave a reader to make of a man who pleads his goodness and then gives thanks for forgiveness?

People in this chapter

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