1 Hezekiáh is sick 5 He is restored to health by the Lord, and liveth fifteen years after. 10 He giveth thanks for his benefit.
1.About *that atime was Hezekiáh sick unto the death, and the Prophet Isaiáh son of Amóz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Put thine house in an order, for thou shalt dye, and not live.
2.Then Hezekiáh bturned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
3.And said, I beseech thee, Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Hezekiáh wept sore.
4.¶ Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiáh, saying,
5.Go, and say unto Hezekiáh, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
6.And I will deliver thee cout of the hand of the King of Asshúr, and this city: for I will defend this city.
7.And dthis sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing, that he hath spoken,
8.Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees (whereby it is gone down in the dial of Ahaz by the esun) ten degrees backward: so the sun returned by ten degrees, by the which degrees it was gone down.
9.fThe writing of Hezekiáh King of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.
10.I said in the gcutting off of my daies, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
11.I said, hI shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I shall see man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12.Mine habitation is departed, and is removed from me, like a shepherd’s tent: I ihave cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off from the height: from day kto night, thou wilt make an end of me.
13.I reckoned ito the morning: but he brake all my bones, like a lion: from daie to night wilt thou make an end of me.
14.Like a crane or a swallow, so did I mchatter: I did mourn as a dove, mine eyes were lift up on high, ô Lord, nit hath oppressed me, comfort me.
15.What shall I say? ofor he hath said it to me, and he hath done it: I shall walk pweakly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
16.O Lord, qto them that overlive them, & to all that are in them, the life of my spirit shalbe knowen, that thou causedst me to rsleep and hast given life to me.
17.Behold, for sfelicity I had bitter grief, but it was thy pleasure to deliver my soul from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my tsins behind thy back.
18.For uthe grave can not confess thee: death can not praise thee: they that go down into the pit, can not hope for thy truth.
19.But the living, the living, he shall confess thee, as I do this day: the father to the xchildren shall declare thy truth.
20.The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my song, all the days of your life in the House of the Lord.
21.Then said Isaiáh, Take a lump of dry figs and zlay it upon the boil, and he shall recover.
22.Also Hezekiáh ahad said, What is the sign, that I shall go up into the House of the Lord?
Soon after that the Assyrians were slain so that God will have the exercise of his children continual, that they may learn only to depend upon God and aspire to the heavens.
For his heart was touched with fear of God’s judgement, seeing he had appointed his to die, so quickly after his deliverance from so great calamity, as one unworthy to remain in the estate, and also foreseeing the great change, that should come in the Church, forasmuch as he left no son to reign after him for as yet Manasseh was not born and when he reigned, we see what a tyrant he was.
He does not only promise to prolong his life, but to give him rest and quietness from the Assyrians, who might have renewed their army to revenge their former discomfiture.
For Hezekiah had asked for the confirmation of his faith a sign, as verse 22 and 2 Kings 20.8 whereunto he was moved by the singular motion of God’s Spirit.
He left this song of his lamentation and thanksgiving to all posterity, as a monument of his own infirmity and thankful heart for God’s benefits, as David did, Ps. 51.
I shall no more praise the Lord here in his Temple among the faithful thus God suffers his dearest children to want his consolation for a time, that his grace afterward may the more appear when they feel their own weakness.
Over night I thought that I should live till morning, but my pangs in the night persuaded me the contrary, he shows the horror, that the faithful have when they apprehend God’s judgement against their sin.
Forasmuch as God has placed man in this world to glorify him, the godly take it as a sign of his wrath when their days were shortened, either because that they seemed unworthy for their sins to live longer in his service, or for their zeal to God’s glory, seeing that there is so few in earth, that do regard it as Ps. 6.5 and 115.17.