Prayers of the Righteous

Hezekiah

Isaiah 38:9–20 NASB 2020

This is a writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: I said, “In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol; I have been deprived of the rest of my years.” I said, “I will not see the Lord, The Lord in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind among the inhabitants of the world. “Like a shepherd’s tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me. “I composed my soul until morning. Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me. “Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; Lord, I am oppressed, be my security. “What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will walk quietly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. “Lord, by these things people live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; Restore me to health and let me live! “Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; But You have kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have hurled all my sins behind Your back. “For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. “It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness. “The Lord is certain to save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the Lord.”