1In those days Hezekiah fell sick unto death; and there came unto him Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, and said unto him, Thus hath said the Lord, Give thy charge to thy house; for thou shalt die, and not live.

2Then did Hezekiah turn his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord.

3And he said, O Lord, I beseech thee remember now that I have walked before thee in truth, and with an undivided heart, and have done what is good in thy eyes. And Hezekiah wept aloud.

4Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,

5Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus hath said the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

6And out of the hand of the king of Assyria will I deliver thee and this city; and I will shield this city.

7And this shall be unto thee the sign from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which he hath spoken:

8Behold, I will cause the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down on the dial of Achaz by the sun, to return backward ten degrees. So the sun returned ten degrees, by the degrees which he was gone down.

9The writing of Hezekiah the king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

10I had said, In the midst of my days, must I enter the gates of the nether world; I am deprived of the residue of my years.

11I had said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall not behold man any more among the inhabitants of the regions of death.

12My dwelling is broken down, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off, like a weaver, my life; with pining sickness will he snatch me away: from day until night wilt thou make an end of me.

13I waited [with patience] till morning, [whether] as a lion, so would he break all my bones: from day until night wilt thou make an end of me.

14Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chirp; I did moan like a dove; my eyes were lifted up on high: O Lord, I am oppressed; grant me ease.

15What shall I speak? he hath promised it unto me, and he hath also accomplished it; I will make pilgrimages [to God's house] all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

16O Lord, by these [things men] will live, and in all these [things] is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou give me health, and cause me to live.

17Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast, in loving my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins.

18For the nether world will not thank thee, death will not praise thee: they that go down into the pit will not hope for thy truth.

19The living, the living alone shall thank thee, like me this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

20The Lord is there to help me; therefore we will play my hymns all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

21And Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the inflammation, and he shall recover.

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