# Isaiah 38 📖: Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Isaiah Overview]] | [[Isaiah 38]] | [[Isaiah 39]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Lord Hears Hezekiah’s Prayer [[#Verse 01.]] In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give instructions to your household, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”  [[#Verse 02.]] Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,  [[#Verse 03.]] “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. [[#Verse 04.]] The Lord’s message came to Isaiah,  [[#Verse 05.]] “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life.  [[#Verse 06.]] I will also rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city.”’”  [[#Verse 07.]] Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said:  [[#Verse 08.]] Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” And then the shadow went back ten steps. ### Hezekiah’s Song of Thanks [[#Verse 09.]] This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness: [[#Verse 10.]] “I thought, ‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.’ [[#Verse 11.]] “I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. [[#Verse 12.]] My dwelling place is removed and taken away from me as a shepherd’s tent. I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; from the loom he cuts me off. You turn day into night and end my life. [[#Verse 13.]] I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life. [[#Verse 14.]] Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O Lord, I am oppressed; help me! [[#Verse 15.]] What can I say? He has decreed and acted. I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. [[#Verse 16.]] O Lord, your decrees can give men life; may years of life be restored to me. Restore my health and preserve my life.’ [[#Verse 17.]] “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. You delivered me from the Pit of oblivion. For you removed all my sins from your sight. [[#Verse 18.]] Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks; death does not praise you. Those who descend into the Pit do not anticipate your faithfulness. [[#Verse 19.]] The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks, as I do today. A father tells his sons about your faithfulness. [[#Verse 20.]] The Lord is about to deliver me, and we will celebrate with music for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” [[#Verse 21.]] (Isaiah ordered, “Let them take a fig cake and apply it to the ulcerated sore and he will get well.”  [[#Verse 22.]] Hezekiah said, “What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”) ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Set your house in order (38:1) meant to prepare a will and arrange family affairs. 2. Hezekiah's illness likely came before the Assyrian crisis ended, since God also promised to deliver the city (38:6). 3. God added fifteen years to Hezekiah's life (38:5). 4. The shadow moving back ten steps on the stairway of Ahaz (38:8) was the sign that God would heal him. 5. The stairway of Ahaz may have been a set of steps used to mark time by the sun's shadow. 6. Hezekiah's song (38:9-20) is a psalm of lament and thanksgiving that appears only in Isaiah, not in 2 Kings. 7. Hezekiah compares his life to a weaver cutting the thread from the loom (38:12). 8. He chirped like a swallow and moaned like a dove (38:14), describing weak, mournful cries. 9. A lump of figs applied to the boil (38:21) was a known ancient remedy. 10. Manasseh, one of Judah's most wicked kings, was born during these extra years (2 Kings 21:1). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who has conquered death. Hezekiah's life was extended fifteen years (38:5), but Jesus gives eternal life and holds the keys of death (Revelation 1:18). In Him our sins are cast behind God's back (38:17; Hebrews 8:12). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed (38:2-3). What does his response teach about bringing our deepest fears to God? 2. God heard Hezekiah's prayer and saw his tears (38:5). How does it encourage you that God sees your tears? 3. Hezekiah said it was for his own good that he had such bitterness (38:17). How has God used suffering for your good? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 5: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. - 📖 verse 17: You have thrown all my sins behind Your back. - 📖 verse 19: The living praise You; fathers tell their children about Your faithfulness. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[2 Kings 20#Verse 01.|2 Kings 20:1-11]] - The parallel account of Hezekiah's healing. - 🔗 [[James 05#Verse 15.|James 5:15-16]] - The prayer of a righteous person is powerful. - 🔗 [[Revelation 01#Verse 17.|Revelation 1:17-18]] - Jesus holds the keys of death. - 🔗 [[Micah 07#Verse 18.|Micah 7:18-19]] - God casts our sins into the depths of the sea. - 🔗 [[Psalm 30#Verse 02.|Psalm 30:2-5]] - Lord, You healed me. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Isaiah 38 - SOAP|Prayer Changes Things]] ## 📂 Internal Notes