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 ¹ In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"

 ² Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD,

 ³ And said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept sorely.

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

 ⁵ "Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your days.

 ⁶ And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.

 ⁷ And this will be a sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has spoken;

 ⁸ Behold, I will bring the shadow, which has gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.'" So the sun went back ten degrees, by which degrees it had gone down.

 ⁹ This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered from his sickness:

 ¹⁰ "I said in the prime of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the remainder of my years."

 ¹¹ I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

 ¹² The years of my life have departed and been removed from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver; he will cut me off with pining sickness; from day even to night you will make an end of me.

 ¹³ I quieted myself until morning, that, like a lion, he will break all my bones; from day even to night will you make an end of me.

 ¹⁴ Like a crane or a swallow, I chattered; I mourned as a dove; my eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

 ¹⁵ What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I shall go carefully all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

 ¹⁶ O LORD, 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.

 ¹⁷ Behold, it was for my own peace and welfare that I had great bitterness; but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

 ¹⁸ For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you; those who go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.

 ¹⁹ The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day; the father shall make known your truth to the children.

 ²⁰ The LORD is ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD."

 ²¹ For Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a poultice upon the boil, and he shall recover."

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