Isaiah 38
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 38Written by AI
Hezekiah falls deathly ill, and Isaiah tells him he will not recover. The king weeps and prays, and God adds fifteen years to his life, confirmed by the sign of a shadow going back ten steps. The chapter includes Hezekiah's own song of thanks, honest about his fear of death and grateful for God's mercy.
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’”
So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.
Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving
This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
I said, “In the prime of my life
I must go through the gates of Sheol
and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”
I said, “I will never again see the LORD,
even the LORD, in the land of the living;
I will no longer look on mankind
with those who dwell in this world.
My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver;
He cuts me off from the loom;
from day until night You make an end of me.
I composed myself until the morning.
Like a lion He breaks all my bones;
from day until night You make an end of me.
I chirp like a swallow or crane;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes grow weak as I look upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
What can I say?
He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this.
I will walk slowly all my years
because of the anguish of my soul.
O Lord, by such things men live,
and in all of them my spirit finds life.
You have restored me to health
and have let me live.
Surely for my own welfare
I had such great anguish;
but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion,
for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
For Sheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You.
Those who descend to the Pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
The living, only the living, can thank You,
as I do today;
fathers will tell their children
about Your faithfulness.
The LORD will save me;
we will play songs on stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
in the house of the LORD.
Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”