HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1005
ISAIAH 38
page 635
32
will put roots down in your own soil
and grow up and flourish.
For a remnant of my people will spread
out from Jerusalem,
a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on
the sundial* of Ahaz!’” So the shadow on the
sundial moved backward ten steps.
Hezekiah’s Poem of Praise
9 When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote
this poem:
10
33 “And this is what the Lord says about the king
of Assyria:
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35
“‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside its gates with
their shields
nor build banks of earth against its walls.
The king will return to his own country
by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,’
says the Lord.
‘For my own honor and for the sake of my
servant David,
I will defend this city and protect it.’”
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12
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36 That night the angel of the Lord went out to
the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian
soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians* woke
up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke
camp and returned to his own land. He went
home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
38 One day while he was worshiping in the
temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords.
They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of
Assyria.
Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery
About that time Hezekiah became
deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son
of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this
message: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your
affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will
not recover from this illness.’”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his
face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly,
always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke
down and wept bitterly.
4 Then this message came to Isaiah from the
Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This
is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen
your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life,
6 and I will rescue you and this city from the king
of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
7 “‘And this is the sign from the Lord to prove
that he will do as he promised: 8 I will cause the
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37:36 Hebrew When they. 38:8 Hebrew the steps.
38:10 Hebrew enter the gates of Sheol?
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16
I said, “In the prime of my life,
must I now enter the place of the dead?*
Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?”
I said, “Never again will I see the Lord God
while still in the land of the living.
Never again will I see my friends
or be with those who live in this world.
My life has been blown away
like a shepherd’s tent in a storm.
It has been cut short,
as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
Suddenly, my life was over.
I waited patiently all night,
but I was torn apart as though by lions.
Suddenly, my life was over.
Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or
a crane,
and then I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven
for help.
I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”
But what could I say?
For he himself sent this sickness.
Now I will walk humbly throughout my years
because of this anguish I have felt.
Lord, your discipline is good,
for it leads to life and health.
You restore my health
and allow me to live!
• Healing
I S A I A H 38:16
Discipline restricts our personal freedom.
We are unable to do something we
want to do, or we must do something
we don’t want to do. This is why children
don’t enjoy discipline—and why adults
don’t either. When God disciplines us,
we rebel at our restrictions and our disappointments. But God’s discipline is
always moving us toward better life and
health. Through “restrictions” we are protected from danger, rerouted in a better
direction, and healed from the damage we
have done to ourselves through sin. We
should be grateful for anything—discipline
included—that brings us into the protection and healing of God’s wisdom,
presence, and power.