Isaiah 38

KING JAMES BIBLE	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 In 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.	1 In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover."
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,	2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
3 And 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.	3 "O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,	4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
5 Go, 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.	5 "Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple; I will add fifteen years to your life.
6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.	6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city."
7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;	7 (Isaiah answered:) "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised:
8 Behold, 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.	8 See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced." So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:	9 The song of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10 I 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.	10 Once I said, "In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years."
11 I 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.	11 I said, "I shall see the LORD no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world."
12 Mine 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.	12 My dwelling, like a shepherd's tent, is struck down and borne away from me; You have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. Day and night you give me over to torment;
13 I 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.	13 I cry out until the dawn. Like a lion he breaks all my bones; (day and night you give me over to torment).
14 Like 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.	14 Like a swallow I utter shrill cries; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak, gazing heavenward: O Lord, I am in straits; be my surety!
15 What 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.	15 What am I to say or tell him? He has done it! I shall go on through all my years despite the bitterness of my soul.
16 O 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.	16 Those live whom the LORD protects; yours. . . the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life;
17 Behold, 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.	17 thus is my bitterness transformed into peace. You have preserved my life from the pit of destruction, When you cast behind your back all my sins.
18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.	18 For it is not the nether world that gives you thanks, nor death that praises you; Neither do those who go down into the pit await your kindness.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.	19 The living, the living give you thanks, as I do today. Fathers declare to their sons, O God, your faithfulness.
20 The 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.	20 The LORD is our savior; we shall sing to stringed instruments In the house of the LORD all the days of our life.
21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.	21 Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover.
22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?	22 Then Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?"