Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery (2 Kings 20:1–11; 2 Chronicles 32:24–31)
1 CPDV 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.” BSB BSB: 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.’”
2 CPDV And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he prayed to the Lord. BSB BSB: Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
3 CPDV And 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 weeping. BSB BSB: 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.
4 CPDV And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying: BSB BSB: And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
5 CPDV “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 days. BSB BSB: “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.
6 CPDV And I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it. BSB BSB: And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
7 CPDV And this will be a sign for you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word, which he has spoken: BSB BSB: This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:
8 CPDV Behold, 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 descended. BSB BSB: 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 9 CPDV The writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, after he had fallen ill and had recovered from his sickness: BSB BSB: This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10 CPDV “I said: In the middle of my days, I will go to the gates of Hell. So I sought the remainder of my years. BSB BSB: 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.”
11 CPDV I said: I will not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I will no longer behold man, nor the habitation of rest. BSB BSB: 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.
12 CPDV My 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 limits. BSB BSB: 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.
13 CPDV I hoped, even until morning. Like a lion, so has he crushed all my bones. From morning until evening, you have marked my limits. BSB BSB: I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
14 CPDV I 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 favor. BSB BSB: 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.”
15 CPDV What 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 soul. BSB BSB: 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.
16 CPDV O 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 live. BSB BSB: 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.
17 CPDV Behold, 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 back. BSB BSB: 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.
18 CPDV For Hell will not confess to you, and death will not praise you. Those who descend into the pit will not hope for your truth. BSB BSB: For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 CPDV The living, the living, these will give praise to you, as I also do this day! The father will make the truth known to the sons. BSB BSB: The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.
20 CPDV O Lord, save me! And we will sing our psalms, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.” BSB BSB: The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
21 CPDV 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 healed. BSB BSB: Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
22 CPDV And Hezekiah said, “What will be the sign that I may go up to the house of the Lord?” BSB BSB: And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.