JPS - Isaiah - 38

38:1  In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him: 'Thus saith HaShem: Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.'

38:2  Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto HaShem,

38:3  and said: 'Remember now, O HaShem, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight.' And Hezekiah wept sore.

38:4  Then came the word of HaShem to Isaiah, saying:

38:5  'Go, and say to Hezekiah: Thus saith HaShem, the G-d of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

38:6  And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.

38:7  And this shall be the sign unto thee from HaShem, that HaShem will do this thing that He hath spoken:

38:8  behold, I will cause the shadow of the dial, which is gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, to return backward ten degrees.' So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

38:9  The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.

38:10  I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go, even to the gates of the nether-world; I am deprived of the residue of my years.

38:11  I said: I shall not see HaShem, even HaShem in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

38:12  My habitation is plucked up and carried away from me as a shepherd's tent; I have rolled up like a weaver my life; He will cut me off from the thrum; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

38:13  The more I make myself like unto a lion until morning, the more it breaketh all my bones; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

38:14  Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O HaShem, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.

38:15  What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it; I shall go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.

38:16  O L-rd, by these things men live, and altogether therein is the life of my spirit; wherefore recover Thou me, and make me to live.

38:17  Behold, for my 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.

38:18  For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.

38:19  The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.

38:20  HaShem is ready to save me; therefore we will sing songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of HaShem.

38:21  And Isaiah said: 'Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.'

38:22  And Hezekiah said. 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of HaShem?'