Isaiah 38:9-22

9A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.

11I said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;

13I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.

14Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!

15What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

16O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!

17Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

18For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.

19The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.

20The Lord will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the Lord.

21Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."

22Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?"