Isaiah 38:9-14

9A poem by King Hezekiah of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

10I said: In the prime of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.

11I said: I will never see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I will not look on humanity any longer with the inhabitants of what is passing away.

12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; he cuts me off from the loom. By nightfall you make an end of me.

13I thought until the morning: He will break all my bones like a lion. By nightfall you make an end of me.

14I chirp like a swallow or a crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed; support me.