Isaiah 38

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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."	1 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.”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:	2 And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and he prayed to the Lord.
3 "O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.	3 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.
4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:	4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying:
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.	5 “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.
6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city."	6 And I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.
7 (Isaiah answered:) "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised:	7 And this will be a sign for you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word, which he has spoken:
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.	8 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.
9 The song of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:	9 The writing of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, after he had fallen ill and had recovered from his sickness:
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."	10 “I said: In the middle of my days, I will go to the gates of Hell. So I sought the remainder of my years.
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."	11 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.
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;	12 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.
13 I cry out until the dawn. Like a lion he breaks all my bones; (day and night you give me over to torment).	13 I hoped, even until morning. Like a lion, so has he crushed all my bones. From morning until evening, you have marked my limits.
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!	14 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.
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.	15 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.
16 Those live whom the LORD protects; yours. . . the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life;	16 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.
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.	17 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.
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.	18 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.
19 The living, the living give you thanks, as I do today. Fathers declare to their sons, O God, your faithfulness.	19 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.
20 The LORD is our savior; we shall sing to stringed instruments In the house of the LORD all the days of our life.	20 O Lord, save me! And we will sing our psalms, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”
21 Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover.	21 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.
22 Then Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?"	22 And Hezekiah said, “What will be the sign that I may go up to the house of the Lord?”