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Isaiah

Isaiahchapter 38

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A.Set Thine House in Order — the Shadow Goes Back Ten Stepsvv. 1-8

1 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 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “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 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. 7 This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: 8 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.

B.Hezekiah's Writing: Like a Swallow I Chatteredvv. 9-20

9 This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. 19 The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. 20 The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.

C.A Cake of Figs and a Sign for the House of the LORDvv. 21-22

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” 22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”

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Chapter summary

Sick unto death, Hezekiah hears Isaiah's word: set thy house in order.

Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾

Sick unto death, Hezekiah hears Isaiah's word: set thy house in order. He turns his face to the wall, prays, and weeps, and Jehovah answers through Isaiah: fifteen years added, the city delivered from the king of Assyria, and a sign, the shadow on the dial of Ahaz returns backward ten steps. The chapter then preserves Hezekiah's own writing after recovery: he laments going to the gates of Sheol in the noontide of his days, his life rolled up like a weaver's cloth; he chatters like a swallow and moans like a dove; then he confesses that God has cast all his sins behind his back, for Sheol cannot praise: 'the living, the living, he shall praise thee.' Two closing notes record the cake of figs laid on the boil and Hezekiah's question about a sign for going up to the house of Jehovah.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview

  • A. 1–8 Set Thine House in Order — the Shadow Goes Back Ten Steps
  • B. 9–20 Hezekiah's Writing: Like a Swallow I Chattered
  • C. 21–22 A Cake of Figs and a Sign for the House of the LORD
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
  • 2 Kings 204 verses
    • 2 Kings 20:1In 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 Kings 20:7Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered.
    • 2 Kings 20:8Now Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?”
    • 2 Kings 20:9And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”
    • Read 2 Kings 20 →
  • Psalms 182 verses
  • Isaiah 372 verses
    • Isaiah 37:30And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
    • Isaiah 37:35‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
    • Read Isaiah 37 →
  • Psalms 1162 verses
4 more chapters this one speaks with
  • 2 Chronicles 321 verse
  • Isaiah 381 verse
    • Isaiah 38:1In 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.’”
    • Read Isaiah 38 →
  • Matthew 61 verse
    • Matthew 6:6But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
    • Read Matthew 6 →
  • 1 Kings 81 verse
    • 1 Kings 8:30Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
    • Read 1 Kings 8 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.