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¹About 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.’”

²When 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.

⁴Then 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,

⁶and 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:

⁸I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!’” So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.

⁹When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem:

¹⁰I 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?”

¹¹I 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.

¹²My 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.

¹³I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.

¹⁴Delirious, 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!”

¹⁵But 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.

¹⁶Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You restore my health and allow me to live!

¹⁷Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins.

¹⁸For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness.

¹⁹Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.

²⁰Think of it — the LORD is ready to heal me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the LORD.

²¹Isaiah had said to Hezekiah’s servants, “Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.”

²²And Hezekiah had asked, “What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the LORD?”

¹Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick and that he had recovered.

²Hezekiah was delighted with the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”

⁴“What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah. “They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own — all my royal treasuries.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the LORD of Heaven’s Armies:

⁶‘The time is coming when everything in your palace — all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now — will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.

⁷‘Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.’”

⁸Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the LORD is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”

¹“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.”

³Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!

⁴Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.

⁵Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!”

⁶A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.

⁷The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people.

⁸The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”

¹⁰Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

¹²Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?

¹³Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?

¹⁴Has the LORD ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?

¹⁵No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.

¹⁶All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.

¹⁷The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing — mere emptiness and froth.

¹⁸To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him?

¹⁹Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?

²⁰Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!

²¹Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God — the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?

²²God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.

²³He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing.

²⁴They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.

²⁷O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

²⁸Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

²⁹He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

³⁰Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.

³¹But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.