ISAIAH - Chapter 38

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says YAHWEH: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”

Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to YAHWEH, and said, "Remember now, O YAHWEH, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

And the word of YAHWEH came to Isaiah, saying, "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says YAHWEH, the Elohim of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city."' And this is the sign to you from YAHWEH, that YAHWEH will do this thing which He has spoken: Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.”

So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.

This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: I said, "In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years." I said, "I shall not see YAH, YAHWEH in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world. My life span is gone, taken from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me.

”I have considered until morning—like a lion, so He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me. Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; my eyes fail from looking upward. O YAHWEH, I am oppressed; undertake for me! What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years In the bitterness of my soul. O Master, by these things men live; and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so You will restore me and make me live.

Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; but You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast 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 truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; the father shall make known Your truth to the children.

"YAHWEH was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of YAHWEH.”

Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.”

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

Chapter 39

At that time Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

So Hezekiah said, "They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.”

And he said, "What have they seen in your house?”

So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of YAHWEH of hosts: 'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says YAHWEH. 'And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

Chapter 40

So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of YAHWEH which you have spoken is good!" For he said, "At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”

"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" Says your Elohim. "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from YAHWEH’s hand double for all her sins.”

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of YAHWEH; make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohim. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of YAHWEH shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of YAHWEH has spoken.”

The voice said, "Cry out!" And he said, "What shall I cry?"

"All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of YAHWEH blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Elohim stands forever.”

O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your Elohim!”

Behold, the Master YAHWEH shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

Who has directed the Spirit of YAHWEH, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.

All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless. To whom then will you liken Elohim? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

The workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, when He will also blow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

"To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from YAHWEH, and my just claim is passed over by my Elohim”?

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting Elohim, YAHWEH, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on YAHWEH shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

HalleluYah!