Isaiah 38:5

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

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." ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³saying, "Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴And 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.⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city. ⁷This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: ⁸I will make the sun's shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go ten steps backward." So the shadow cast by the sun went back the ten steps it had descended.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and say: 2 Samuel 7:3-5, 1 Chronicles 17:2-4

God: Isaiah 7:13, Isaiah 7:14, 1 Kings 8:25, 1 Kings 9:4, 1 Kings 9:5, 1 Kings 11:12, 1 Kings 11:13, 1 Kings 15:4, 2 Chronicles 34:3, Psalms 89:3, Psalms 89:4, Matthew 22:32

I have heard: 2 Kings 19:20, Psalms 34:5, Psalms 34:6, Luke 1:13, 1 John 5:14, 1 John 5:15

I have seen: Psalms 39:12, Psalms 56:8, Psalms 147:3, 2 Corinthians 7:6, Revelation 7:17

I will: Job 14:5, Psalms 116:15, Acts 27:24

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 12:22 - I fasted 2 Kings 20:5 - the God Job 7:1 - Is there Psalms 6:8 - for Psalms 116:8 - mine Ecclesiastes 3:2 - and a time Ecclesiastes 3:3 - a time to heal Isaiah 33:6 - wisdom Isaiah 39:3 - came Isaiah Lamentations 3:56 - hast Acts 10:31 - thy

Cross-References

Genesis 38:11
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may die too, like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

Genesis 38:26
Judah recognized the items and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not have relations with her again.

Genesis 46:12
The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

Numbers 26:20
These were the descendants of Judah by their clans: The Shelanite clan from Shelah, the Perezite clan from Perez, the Zerahite clan from Zerah.

1 Chronicles 4:21
The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Go and say to Hezekiah,.... Turn again, and tell him,

2 Kings 20:5:

thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father; this is said, to show that he remembered the covenant he made with David his father, concerning the kingdom, and the succession of his children in it; and that he had a regard to him, as walking in his steps:

I have heard thy prayer; and therefore was not surely a foolish one, as Luther somewhere calls it, since it was heard and answered so quickly:

I have seen thy tears; which he shed in prayer, and so studiously concealed from others, when he turned his face to the wall:

behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years; that is, to the days he had lived already, and beyond which it was not probable, according to the nature of his disease, he could live; and besides, he had the sentence of death pronounced on him, and had it within himself, nor did he pray for his life; so that these fifteen years were over and above what he could or did expect to live; and because it was unusual in such a case, and after such a declaration made, that a man should live, and especially so long a time after, it is ushered in with a "behold", as a note of admiration; it being a thing unheard of, and unprecedented, and entirely the Lord's doing, and which, no doubt, was marvellous in the eyes of the king.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The God of David thy father - David is mentioned here, probably, because Hezekiah had a strong resemblance to him 2 Kings 18:3, and because a long and happy reign had been granted to David; and also because the promise had been made to David that there should not fail a man to sit on his throne (see the note at Isaiah 37:35). As Hezekiah resembled David, God promised that his reign should be lengthened out; and as he perhaps was then without a son and successor, God promised him a longer life, with the prospect that he might have an heir who should succeed him on the throne.

Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years - This is perhaps the only instance in which any man has been told exactly how long he would live. Why God specified the time cannot now be known. It was, however, a full answer to the prayer of Hezekiah, and the promise is a full demonstration that God is the hearer of prayer, and that he can answer it at once. We learn here, that it is right for a friend of God to pray for life. In times of sickness, and even when there are indications of a fatal disease, it is not improper to pray that the disease may be removed, and the life prolonged. If the desire be to do good; to advance the kingdom of God; to benefit others; or to perfect some plan of benevolence which is begun, it is not improper to pray that God would prolong the life. Who can tell but that he often thus spares useful lives when worn down with toil, and when the frame is apparently sinking to the grave, in answer to prayer? He does not indeed work miracles as he did in the case of Hezekiah, but he may direct to remedies which had not before occurred; or he may himself give a sudden and unlooked-for turn to the disease, and restore the sufferer again to health.