Isaiah 38:9-20

After Hezekiah king of Judah got well, he wrote this song: I said, “I am in the middle of my life. Do I have to go through the gates of death? Will I have the rest of my life taken away from me?” I said, “I will not see the LORD in the land of the living again. I will not again see the people who live on the earth. Like a shepherd’s tent, my home has been pulled down and taken from me. I am finished like the cloth a weaver rolls up and cuts from the loom. In one day you brought me to this end. All night I cried loudly. Like a lion, he crushed all my bones. In one day you brought me to this end. I cried like a bird and moaned like a dove. My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens. Lord, I have troubles. Please help me.” What can I say? The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen. I have had these troubles in my soul, so now I will be humble all my life. Lord, because of you, people live. Because of you, my spirit also lives; you made me well and let me live. It was for my own good that I had such troubles. Because you love me very much, you did not let me die but threw my sins far away. People in the place of the dead cannot praise you; those who have died cannot sing praises to you; those who die don’t trust you to help them. The people who are alive are the ones who praise you. They praise you as I praise you today. A father should tell his children that you provide help. The LORD saved me, so we will play songs on stringed instruments in the Temple of the LORD all the days of our lives.