“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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Isaiah 38:5-8 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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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“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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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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'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 vv5–8 Isa 38:5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith…
Isa 38:5 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.
Ver. 5. See 2Ki 20:5 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:5"}
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 vv5–8 And I will deliver thee and this city out…
And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria,.... So that it seems that Hezekiah's sickness was while the king of Assyria was near the city of Jerusalem, and about to besiege it, and before the destruction of the Assyrian army; unless this is said to secure Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from all fears of a return of that king, to give them fresh trouble:
and I will defend this city; from the present siege laid to it, ruin threatened it, or from any attack upon it, by the Assyrian monarch.
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 vv5–8 The God of David thy father - David is…
The God of David thy father - David is mentioned here, probably, because Hezekiah had a strong resemblance to him 2Ki 18:3, and because a long and happy reign had been granted to David; and also because the promise had been made to David that there should not fail a man to sit on his throne (see the note at Isa 37:35). As Hezekiah resembled David, God promised that his reign should be lengthened out; and as he perhaps was then without a son and successor, God promised him a longer life, with the prospect that he might have an heir who should succeed him on the throne.
Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years - This is perhaps the only instance in which any man has been told exactly how long he would live. Why God specified the time cannot now be known. It was, however, a full answer to the prayer of Hezekiah, and the promise is a full demonstration that God is the hearer of prayer, and that he can answer it at once. We learn here, that it is right for a friend of God to pray for life. In times of sickness, and even when there are indications of a fatal disease, it is not improper to pray that the disease may be removed, and the life prolonged. If the desire be to do good; to advance the kingdom of God; to benefit others; or to perfect some plan of benevolence which is begun, it is not improper to pray that God would prolong the life. Who can tell but that he often thus spares useful lives when worn down with toil, and when the frame is apparently sinking to the grave, in answer to prayer? He does not indeed work miracles as he did in the case of Hezekiah, but he may direct to remedies which had not before occurred; or he may himself give a sudden and unlooked-for turn to the disease, and restore the sufferer again to health.
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 vv5–8 God of David thy father--God remembers the covenant with…
God of David thy father--God remembers the covenant with the father to the children (Exo 20:5; Psa 89:28-29).
tears-- (Psa 56:8).
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days . . . years--Man's years, however many, are but as so many days (Gen 5:27).
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 vv6–7 6. This verse has been taken by some to…
6. This verse has been taken by some to imply that Hezekiah’s sickness was at the beginning of the Assyrian invasion. This seems gratuitous, or assumed without adequate support. See Isa_39:1.
I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria — This is a promise of assured protection from Assyria forever hereafter, as comments further on will show.
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 vv5–8 5. The verse is greatly abbreviated from 2Ki_20:5. After…
5. The verse is greatly abbreviated from 2Ki_20:5. After Hezekiah the words “the captain of my people” are omitted; and also the sentence “I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord,” which follows the word behold. It cannot be doubted that the historical book here preserves the original text.
the God of David thy father] for whose sake this special mercy is vouchsafed to the king (cf. ch. Isa_37:35; 2Ki_20:6).
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fifteen years] That the number was arrived at by calculation on the part of the historian is not to be believed. If there be calculation in the case at all, it is in the date of ch. Isa_36:1, which may very possibly be an inference from this prediction combined with the statement of 2Ki_18:2. (See on ch. Isa_36:1) In any case the assumption that the prophecy was exactly fulfilled is a legitimate one, and the fourteenth year of Hezekiah must be accepted as the true date of this sickness. The only question is whether the writer of ch. Isa_36:1 may not have fallen into error by supposing that the date of Hezekiah’s sickness fixed the time of Sennacherib’s invasion. On that point see the Chronological Note, pp. lxxvi f. Since the king began to reign in his twenty-fifth year, it is after all not a long life that is here promised to him. His reign was to be doubled.
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 vv5, 7, 8 Thus saith the Lord,... I have heard thy prayer.…
Thus saith the Lord,... I have heard thy prayer. According to the author of Kings, the full message sent to Hezekiah was, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy clays fifteen years; and I will deliver time and this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant Davids sake". (2Ki_20:5, 2Ki_20:6) The words in italics are additional to those here reported by Isaiah. Fifteen years. This was doubling, or rather more than doubling, the length of Hezekiah"s reign, and allowing him a length of life exceeding that of the great majority of the kings of Judah, who seldom attained the age of fifty. Hezekiah lived to be fifty-four.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Ver. 5. Hezekiah"s prayer heard.
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"Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears." These words were spoken to a heart riven with grief, and a life seemingly "sick unto death." At such times this man wants, above all else, to feel that he has been sincere. He says, not boastingly at all, but with real humility, "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight." Words must be judged by the circumstances of the life. There is no self righteousness in them, but simple, guileless heart-speech.
I GOD"S SPEEDY CONSOLATION. "Go, and say to Hezekiah." For the Divine heart meets the human heart according to its moods. And there was no need to intensify Hezekiah"s sorrow or to test its sincerity. Just as our Saviour, remembering Peter"s fears after his denial, and knowing that the memory of his unfaithfulness and falsehood was a burning shame in his heart, said immediately after his resurrection, by the mouth of the angel, "Go your way, tell his disciples, and Peter", (Mar_16:7) that Peter might know that the "look" which struck out the fountain of tears, was turned into the look of forgiving grace and mercy. So here God would comfort Hezekiah at once in his true-hearted contrition.
II GOD"S TENDER REMEMBRANCE. "Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father." What music is that! Then there is something in a pious ancestry more than we think of at times. Your father was a man of God, perhaps. Then there are prayers treasured up for you in the greater Father"s memory. When we think of our Saviour, we "member his own words," For my sake." So God remembers also the sake of others: "For Zion"s sake;" "For Jerusalem"s sake." And as concerning Solomon God says, "Notwithstanding in thy days I will not rend the kingdom from thee, for David thy father"s sake." We read also in Genesis, "The Lord blessed the Egyptian"s house for Joseph"s sake." This is as touching as it is comforting. "The God of David thy father.
III GOD"S GRACIOUS SPEECH. "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears." The prayer that is heard is the prayer that is heartfelt. None need be ashamed of tears. They are not unmanly. "Jesus wept" When a man weeps we are accustomed to wonder, nay, sometimes to scorn. The world prefers the sternness of endurance and the courage of despair. God hears heavenly eloquence in sighs, and beautiful liturgies in tears. "A broken and a contrite heart, O Go!, thou wilt not despise." And the answer came: "I will add unto thy days fifteen years I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria." So God will save nations because of righteous souls, and will deliver us from worse Assyrians than those that imperilled Israel. W.M.S.
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 v7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from…
Isa_38:7-8
And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord
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The shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz
We are not to imagine that in this miracle any effect was wrought upon the motion of the earth round its axis.
A miraculous refraction of the suns rays was effected by God on a particular sun-dial, at the prayer of King Hezekiah. It was a miracle, wrought on a particular dial, in a particular place, showing that it concerned a particular person; and it was not wrought on the solar orb, but on the solar light. (Bp. Wordsworth.)
The shadow reversed on the sun-dial of Ahaz
This astounding miracle could only have been affected by a light. brighter than the sun, rising on the other side of the sun-dial. We all know how electric light reverses the shadow of gas light. At St. Pauls conversion, the light from heaven, the Shechinah brightness of Immanuel, outshone the splendour of the noonday sun. In the heavenly city there is no need of the sun to shine on it, nor of the moon to lighten it, for the glory of God and the Lamb is the light thereof. Unfortunately, we cannot tell on which side of the temple at Jerusalem the sun-dial of Ahaz was situated. It was probably a monolith or obelisk, resembling that on the Thames embankment, elevated on steps--translated degrees--and intended to regulate the hours of public worship. The setting sun had thrown the shadow across the steps; it had gone down ten degrees, when suddenly from the gate or window from the mercy-seat behind the veil of the naos, or temple proper, there flashed forth the majestic light of Divine glory that dwelt between the cherubim, reversing the shadow of the natural sun, and converting for Hezekiah the shadow of death into morning. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
The Light of the Mosaic past
To the ardent eyes of the old prophet the light that had reversed the shadow on the sundial was the old Light of the Mosaic past. It had illumined the land of Goshen in the days of supernatural darkness that overspread the rest of Egypt. It had flashed out with more than electric brightness upon the hosts of Israel as they struggled on through the night and the sea to escape the pursuing army of the Pharaoh. It had glided as a fiery pillar before the tribes through the rocky desert, warning off their enemies, and guiding the pilgrim army homeward to the fatherland. It had synchronised their movements with those convulsions of nature that arrested the Jordan at harvest flood, and shook down the walls of Jericho at the moment when they were prepared to cross and capture the devoted city. And it had stood over Gibeon as a sun that would not go down, and as a moon that would not withdraw, while Jehovah fought for Israel, and gave them their crowning victory over the idolatrous Canaanites. Isaiah knew the Light. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
Christ the glory of His people Israel
Was it this, I wonder, that evoked from Isaiah that unwonted outburst of enthusiasm in the chapter beginning, Arise, shine, for thy Light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee? Thy sun shall no more go down . . . for Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God thy glory? If so, how appropriate the words to the occasion. It is easy to identify the Light of Israel with Christ, the Light of the world. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
Christ dispels and reverses lifes shadows
I do not consider that I am putting any undue strain upon the text in applying it to Christ. The Shechinah was the recognised token to Israel of the presence of her covenant God. It led the Magi to Bethlehem. It shone around the shepherds on the night of the nativity. It overwhelmed Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. Christ is the Light that dispels and reverses our shadows. Christ has dispelled and reversed--
I. THE SHADOW OF, SIN.
II. THE SHADOW OF GRIEF.
III. THE SHADOW OF DEATH. If He be in thee, wrote John Pulsford, who is the Light of Life, very Light and very Life, then, when the candlelight of ,thy bodys life goes out, the sunlight of thy souls life shall be bright about thee. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)
The great miracle
The miracle is how God Himself began. Why will men always attack the wrong point, as if it were a wonderful thing that a man should have fifteen years added to his life; and yet we omit the stupendous miracle that man ever began to live. Thus attack what mystery we may we only go backward and upward until we come to Deity Himself. That is the great mystery, and there is none other. (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 v7 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to Hezekiah.
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Look
Yahweh uses this word to draw the listener's attention to what is said next. AT: "Listen"
stairs of Ahaz
These stairs are referred to this way because they were built while Ahaz was king. You can make this information clear. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
sign
Yahweh
Ahaz
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.