Isaiah 38:1-12

In those days Hezekiah [king of Judah] became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said, “For the LORD says this, ‘Set your house in order and prepare a will, for you shall die; you will not live.’ ” [2 Kin 20:1-11; 2 Chr 32:24-26] Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, O LORD, just remember how I have walked before You in faithfulness and truth, and with a whole heart [absolutely devoted to You], and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept greatly. Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘For the LORD, the God of David your father says this, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; listen carefully, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city [Jerusalem].” ’ “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken: Listen carefully, I will turn the shadow on the stairway [denoting the time of day] ten steps backward, the shadow on the stairway (sundial) of Ahaz.” And the sunlight went ten steps backward on the stairway where it had [previously] gone down. This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness: I said, “In mid-life I am to go through the gates of Sheol (the place of the dead), I am to be summoned, deprived of the remainder of my years.” I said, “I will not see the LORD, The LORD in the land of the living; I will no longer see man among the inhabitants of the world. “My dwelling (body) is pulled up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have rolled up my life as a weaver [rolls up the finished web]. He cuts me free from the warp [of the loom]; From day to night You bring me to an end.