(2 Kings 20:1–11; 2 Chronicles 32:24–31)
1
In those days has Hezekiah been sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, comes to him and says to him, “Thus said YHWH: Give a charge to your house, for you [are] dying, and do not live.”
2
And Hezekiah turns around his face to the wall, and prays to YHWH,
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and says, “Ah, now, O YHWH, please remember how I have habitually walked before You in truth, and with a perfect heart, and I have done that which [is] good in your eyes”; and Hezekiah weeps [with] a great weeping.
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And a word of YHWH is to Isaiah, saying,
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“Go, and you have said to Hezekiah, Thus said YHWH, God of your father David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tear, behold, I am adding fifteen years to your days,
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and out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver you and this city, and have covered over this city.
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And this [is] to you the sign from YHWH, that YHWH does this thing that He has spoken.
8
Behold, I am bringing back the shadow of the degrees that it has gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, by the sun, backward ten degrees”; and the sun turns back ten degrees in the degrees that it had gone down.
Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving
9
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick when he revives from his sickness:
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“I said in the cutting off of my days, || I go to the gates of Sheol, || I have numbered the remnant of my years.
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I said, I do not see YAH—YAH! In the land of the living, || I do not behold man anymore, || With the inhabitants of the world.
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My sojourning has departed, || And been removed from me as a shepherd’s tent, || I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, || By weakness it cuts me off, || From day to night You end me.
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I have set [Him] as a lion until morning, || So He breaks all my bones, || From day to night You end me.
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As a crane—a swallow—so I chatter, || I mourn as a dove, || My eyes have been drawn up on high, || O YHWH, oppression [is] on me, be my guarantor.
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What do I say? Seeing He spoke to me, || And He Himself has worked, || I go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.
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Lord, [men] live by these, || And by all in them [is] the life of my spirit, || And You save me, make me to also live,
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Behold, He changed bitterness to peace for me, || And You have delighted in my soul without corruption, || For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
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For Sheol does not confess You, || Death does not praise You, || Those going down to the pit do not hope for Your truth.
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The living, the living, he confesses You,
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Like myself today; A father makes known to [his] sons of Your faithfulness, || O YHWH—to save me: And we sing my songs all [the] days of our lives || In the house of YHWH.”
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And Isaiah says, “Let them take a bunch of figs, and plaster over the ulcer, and he lives.”
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And Hezekiah says, “What [is] the sign that I go up to the house of YHWH?”
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