¶ In those days was Hezekiah¹ sick unto death. And Isaiah² the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order³: for thou⁴ shalt die, and not live.

Then Hezekiah turned⁵ his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,

And said, Remember⁶ now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have⁷ walked before thee in truth and with a perfect⁸ heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept⁹ sore¹⁰.

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

Go, and say¹¹ to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God¹² of David thy father, I have heard¹³ thy prayer, I have seen¹⁴ thy tears: behold, I will¹⁵ add unto thy days fifteen years.

¹⁶And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

¹⁷And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;

Behold, I will bring¹⁸ again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial¹⁹ of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

¶ The writing²⁰ of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had²¹ been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

¶²²I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

²³I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

Mine age is departed, and is removed²⁴ from me as a²⁵ shepherd's tent: I have cut²⁶ off like a weaver my life: he will cut²⁷ me off with pining sickness²⁸: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion²⁹, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Like a crane³⁰ or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn³¹ as a dove: mine eyes³² fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am³³ oppressed; undertake for me³⁴.

What³⁵ shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall³⁶ go softly all my years in the³⁷ bitterness of my soul.

³⁸O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

Behold, for peace I had great bitterness³⁹: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit⁴⁰ of corruption: for thou hast cast⁴¹ all my sins behind thy back.

For the grave⁴² cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that⁴³ go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

The living⁴⁴, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father⁴⁵ to the children shall make known thy truth.

¶ The LORD was ready to save me: therefore⁴⁶ we will sing my songs to the stringed⁴⁷ instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

For Isaiah⁴⁸ had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

Hezekiah also had said, What⁴⁹ is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?