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Hezekiah Healed

^1 (C1)In those days Hezekiah became ^(F1)mortally ill. And ^(C2)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, '^(C3)Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,³ and said, "^(C1)Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have ^(C2)walked before You in truth and with a ^(C3)whole heart, and ^(C4)have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah ^(C5)wept ^(F1)bitterly.

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,⁵ "Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add ^(C1)fifteen years to your ^(F1)life.⁶ "I will ^(C1)deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city."'

⁷ "This shall be the ^(C1)sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken:⁸ "Behold, I will ^(C1)cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps." So the ^(C2)sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

⁹ A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and ^(F1)recovery:

¹⁰ I said, "^(C1)In the middle of my ^(F1)life
I am to enter the ^(C2)gates of Sheol;
I am to be ^(C3)deprived of the rest of my years."

¹¹ I said, "I will not see the LORD,
The LORD ^(C1)in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

¹² "Like a shepherd's ^(C1)tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a ^(C2)weaver I ^(C3)rolled up my life.
He ^(C4)cuts me off from the loom;
From ^(C5)day until night You make an end of me.

¹³ "I composed my soul until morning.
^(C1)Like a lion--so He ^(C2)breaks all my bones,
From ^(C3)day until night You make an end of me.

¹⁴ "^(C1)Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I ^(C2)moan like a dove;
My ^(C3)eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my ^(C4)security.

¹⁵ "^(C1)What shall I say?
^(F1)For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will ^(C2)wander about all my years because of the ^(C3)bitterness of my soul.

¹⁶ "O Lord, ^(C1)by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
^(F1)(C2)O restore me to health and ^(C3)let me live!

¹⁷ "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has ^(F1)(C1)kept my soul from the pit of ^(F2)nothingness,
For You have ^(C2)cast all my sins behind Your back.

¹⁸ "For ^(C1)Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down ^(C2)to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

¹⁹ "It is the ^(C1)living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A ^(C2)father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.

²⁰ "The LORD will surely save me;
So we will ^(C1)play my songs on stringed instruments
^(C2)All the days of our life ^(C3)at the house of the LORD."

²¹ Now ^(C1)Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."²² Then Hezekiah had said, "What is the ^(C1)sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"