Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying, “Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken. Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.” ’ ” So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
Parallel Translations
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Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying,
“Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.
This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken.
Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.” ’ ” So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
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Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
Show all 3 translations
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Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying:
'Go, and say to Hezekiah: Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.
And this shall be the sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He hath spoken:
behold, I will cause the shadow of the dial, which is gone down on the sun-dial of Ahaz, to return backward ten degrees.' So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (41)
- Psalms 34:5-6 (v5) They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame. This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved…
- 1 John 5:14-15 (v5) This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he…
- Revelation 7:17 (v5) for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away…
- Luke 1:13 (v5) But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and…
- Psalms 147:3 (v5) He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
Show all 41 cross-references
- Psalms 56:8 (v5) You count my wanderings. You put my tears into your container. Aren’t they in your book?
- 2 Kings 19:20 (v5) Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of…
- 2 Kings 20:9-11 (v8) Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten…
- Isaiah 37:35 (v6) ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ”
- Judges 6:37-39 (v7) behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I’ll…
- Psalms 116:15 (v5) Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints.
- Isaiah 37:30 (v7) “ ‘This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from it; and…
- Matthew 22:32 (v5) ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
- 2 Corinthians 7:6 (v5) Nevertheless, he who comforts the lowly, God, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
- Joshua 10:12-14 (v8) Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel,…
- Judges 6:17-22 (v7) He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Please don’t go away until I…
- 2 Kings 20:8-21 (v7) Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I will go up to Yahweh’s house the third day?” Isaiah…
- Psalms 89:3-4 (v5) “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant, ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build up your…
- Isaiah 7:11-14 (v7) “Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.” He…
- Isaiah 7:13-14 (v5) He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?…
- Isaiah 12:6 (v6) Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
- Isaiah 31:4-5 (v6) For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him,…
- Genesis 9:13 (v7) I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.
- 1 Kings 9:4-5 (v5) As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that…
- 2 Chronicles 32:22 (v6) Thus Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all…
- 2 Chronicles 32:24 (v8) In those days Hezekiah was terminally ill, and he prayed to Yahweh; and he spoke to him, and gave him a sign.
- Matthew 16:1 (v8) The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
- 2 Timothy 4:17 (v6) But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear.…
- 2 Samuel 7:3-5 (v5) Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart; for Yahweh is with you.” That same night, Yahweh’s word came to Nathan, saying,…
- 1 Kings 8:25 (v5) Now therefore, may Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall…
- 1 Kings 11:12-13 (v5) Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand. However I will not…
- 1 Kings 15:4 (v5) Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem;
- 2 Kings 18:2 (v5) He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter…
- 2 Chronicles 32:31 (v8) However concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left…
- Isaiah 38:22 (v7) Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to Yahweh’s house?”
- Acts 27:24 (v5) saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
- 2 Kings 18:13 (v5) Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.
- 1 Chronicles 17:2-4 (v5) Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart; for God is with you.” That same night, the word of God came to Nathan, saying, “Go and…
- 2 Chronicles 34:3 (v5) For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he…
- Job 14:5 (v5) Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;
- Psalms 39:12 (v5) “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6–8 He doth not only promise to prolong his life,…
He doth not only promise to prolong his life, but to give him rest and quietness from the Assyrians, who might have renewed their army to revenge their former discomfiture.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–8 Isa 38:4 Then came the word of the LORD…
Isa 38:4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Ver. 4. See 2Ki 20:4 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:4"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–8 Go and say to Hezekiah,.... Turn again, and tell…
Go and say to Hezekiah,.... Turn again, and tell him, Kg2 20:5,
thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father; this is said, to show that he remembered the covenant he made with David his father, concerning the kingdom, and the succession of his children in it; and that he had a regard to him, as walking in his steps:
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I have heard thy prayer; and therefore was not surely a foolish one, as Luther somewhere calls it, since it was heard and answered so quickly:
I have seen thy tears; which he shed in prayer, and so studiously concealed from others, when he turned his face to the wall:
behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years; that is, to the days he had lived already, and beyond which it was not probable, according to the nature of his disease, he could live; and besides, he had the sentence of death pronounced on him, and had it within himself, nor did he pray for his life; so that these fifteen years were over and above what he could or did expect to live; and because it was unusual in such a case, and after such a declaration made, that a man should live, and especially so long a time after, it is ushered in with a "behold", as a note of admiration; it being a thing unheard of, and unprecedented, and entirely the Lord's doing, and which, no doubt, was marvellous in the eyes of the king.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 8 Verse 6. I will defend this city.] The other…
Verse 6. I will defend this city.] The other copy, 2Kg 20:6, adds: "for mine own sake, and for the sake of David my servant;" and the sentence seems somewhat abrupt without it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–8 Then came the word of the Lord - In…
Then came the word of the Lord - In the parallel place in 2Ki 20:4, it is said, ‘And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came unto him.’ That is, the message of God name to Isaiah before he had left Hezekiah; or as soon as he had offered his prayer. This circumstance is omitted by Isaiah on the revision of his narrative which we have before us. But there is no contradiction. In this place it is implied that the message came to him soon, or immediately.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–8 In Kg2 20:4, the quickness of God's answer to…
In Kg2 20:4, the quickness of God's answer to the prayer is marked, "afore Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him"; that is, before he had left Hezekiah, or at least when he had just left him, and Hezekiah was in the act of praying after having heard God's message by Isaiah (compare Isa 65:24; Psa 32:5; Dan 9:21).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7 4, 5. Go… say to Hezekiah — Isaiah lives…
4, 5. Go… say to Hezekiah — Isaiah lives in holy communion with God. A divine conviction seizes him before he has even crossed the outer entrance of the middle court, as is shown 2Ki_20:4, to go back and give a contrary announcement to the king. Hezekiah was duly tested by the announcement that he must die. His grief was not on his own account, but for the peril he foresees to the kingdom. On Isaiah’s return Hezekiah was promised an addition of fifteen years to his life.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–8 4. In 2Ki_20:4 we read that “afore Isaiah was…
4. In 2Ki_20:4 we read that “afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court,” this message came to him. So quickly was the king’s prayer answered. A somewhat similar instance of the revocation of one prophetic communication by another is that of Nathan in the matter of the building of the Temple (2Sa_7:3-4 ff.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 7 (5) Fifteen years.—The words fix the date of the…
(5) Fifteen years.—The words fix the date of the illness, taking the received chronology, as B.C. 713. The next verse shows that there was danger at the time to be apprehended from Assyria, but does not necessarily refer to Sennacherib’s invasion. Sargon’s attack (Isa_20:1) may have caused a general alarm.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8 Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah,…
Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying. The author of Kings describes graphically how Isaiah, after delivering his message, had gone out, but had not reached the middle court of the palace, when his footsteps were arrested, and the Divine voice bade him "turn again and relieve Hezekiah"s fears by a fresh announcement". (2Ki_20:4) So swiftly does God answer "the prayer of faith.
Vers. 4-6. Human life; the kindness of God and the wisdom of man.
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In the providential ordering and in the human direction of this our mortal life, we see
I THE KINDNESS OF GOD.
1. The strong links by which God has connected us together. "The God of David thy father;" for David"s sake, in part, he would render deliverance. Human life is so ordered that we are all of us immeasurably the better for the piety, the virtue, the patient and faithful labours of those who came before us.
2. His sensitiveness to our suffering. "I have seen thy tears." "Like as a father pitieth his children," etc.; "When he saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion.
3. His attention to our appeal. "I have heard thy prayer." God"s ear is open, not only to the prayers of "the great congregation," but to the faintest breath of one believing soul; though he may sometimes seem to be deaf, yet is he always "inclining his ear" unto us.
4. His multiplication of our days. "I will add unto thy days." With the morning light, as it continually returns, we should say, "This is the day which the Lord hath made," etc.; it is a new gift from his gracious hand. We take it too much for granted, as if he were under some obligation to add it to those he has given us before. But it is all "of grace so much more than we deserve or have any right to expect at his hand. To the "Lord of our time, whose hand has set New time upon our score,we should render heartfelt praise for his daily gift.
5. His compounding our cup of hope and of uncertainty. God told Hezekiah he would add to his "days fifteen years." Is it not a yet kinder act of our Father that he holds out to us the hope of future years, without letting us know how far he will fulfil our wishes! Without the hope, we should lose all the inspiration which urges us to fruitful action; without the uncertainty, we should presume on the continuance of our life, and be bereft of one of the mast potent checks on folly and on sin. A strong hope, with an element of uncertainty, is the most favourable condition for the cultivation of wisdom and virtue.
II THE WISDOM OF MAN. Our wisdom, under those conditions in which we find ourselves, is:
1. To prepare for length of days. By patient diligence, by prudent forethought, to be ready for long life, in case God should give us that blessing.
2. To prepare for sudden death and the long future. By faith in Jesus Christ and by fidelity in the "few things" of time, to be ready at any hour to stand at the judgment-seat, to pass to the "many things" of eternity. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 7 I have heard thy prayer
Isa_38:4-5
I have heard thy prayer
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Was Hezekiahs recovery an unmitigated blessing?
Most of us who have had some experience of life, have seen instances in which a man who has set his heart too fondly upon one object, has gained that object, and with it (to use the language of St. Paul to his shipmates) much harm and loss. He has won the position which he coveted; but perhaps he finds himself saddled with the burden of a crushing responsibility; or perhaps his health--the one condition of enjoyment--breaks up just as he grasps the prize; or perhaps he is snatched away by death, while the meat is yet in his mouth; and those who knew him are unpleasantly reminded of the end of Israels lusting in the wilderness, He gave them their desire, and sent leanness withal into their soul. And thinking men say, when they hear of this result, Strong wishes for earthly blessings are to be avoided. The Book of God, as being the book of Truth, gives an exact echo of human experience in this matter. God acceded to Hezekiahs request, and added fifteen years to his life. But now comes the grave question, Did the fifteen years thus added prove, in the issue, a blessing to Hezekiah personally, or to the nation over which he so worthily presided? The sacred narrative gives an emphatic negative to both branches of the question.
1. Hezekiah, when God had originally proposed to take him to Himself, and had sent Isaiah with the message, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live, was at the zenith of his spiritual prosperity. And now Hezekiah was to be gathered to his fathers, full, if not of years, yet of honours, spiritual and temporal. But by his prayers and his tears he succeeded in prolonging his span; and the first result of this, which the history brings before us, points to a spiritual decline in Hezekiah (chap. 39.). The sweet ointment of Hezekiahs graces was flawed and corrupted by the dead fly of vanity. Had Hezekiah died when God proposed to take him, he would have died humble; as it is, he dies after being humbled by God; and all those who read the narrative thoughtfully will surely say, Better far he had died at first.
2. But more than personal interests are at stake in the life of princes; and we are led to inquire what, as far as it is given us to know them, may have been the effects upon the Jewish nation of the addition of fifteen years to Hezekiahs life? The answer is conveyed in these words: Manasseh (Hezekiahs son, who succeeded to the throne) was twelve years old when he began to reign; so that if Hezekiah had died when God intended he should, Manasseh would never have existed. Now who was Manasseh? and what part did he play in Jewish history? Manasseh, by his extraordinary wickedness, surpassing that of all who had gone before him, involved the nation which he governed in ruin. Manassehs crimes cried to heaven for vengeance, and were heard, long after Manasseh s body had mingled with the dust, and long after Manassehs soul had become, through Divine grace, profoundly penitent. For when the author of the Books of Kings traces up the captivity to its originating cause, thus he writes: Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight, for the sine of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood), which the Lord would not pardon. Possibly, then, if Manasseh had not existed, the great national de gradation of the Jews by the captivity, and the demolition of the city and temple, would never have taken place. (Dean Goulburn.)
Ministers should have access to the sick
Besides its other important lessons, this history teaches the propriety of admitting the minister of God into the chamber of sickness. His soothing words and the prayer of faith, always secure to the sufferer some blessing, which he could little afford to lose. No intelligent, right-minded medical man will bar the door of the sickroom against the physician of the soul. (J. N. Norton.)
Hezekiah a life prolonged
He had an interview with the Giver of life. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 7 the word of Yahweh came
the word of Yahweh came
This is an idiom that is used to introduce something that God told his prophets or his people. AT: "Yahweh spoke this message" or "Yahweh spoke these words" (See: Idiom)
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See
This is used to ask the listener to pay attention to what is said next. AT: "Listen"
fifteen years
"15 years" (See: Numbers)
the hand of the king of Assyria
Here the king's "hand" refers to his power. AT: "the power of the king of Assyria" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
word of God
Isaiah
Hezekiah
people of God
David
life
king
Assyria
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5–6 38:5 the God of your ancestor David: Hezekiah faithfully…
38:5 the God of your ancestor David: Hezekiah faithfully walked in David’s footsteps (see 37:35; 38:1-22).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.