9. A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:
10. I said: In the prime of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11. I said: I will never see the Lord,the Lord in the land of the living; I will not look on humanity any longerwith the inhabitants of what is passing away.
12. My dwelling is plucked up and removed from melike a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom. You make an end of me from day until night.
13. I thought until the morning:He will break all my bones like a lion;You make an end of me day and night.
14. I chirp like a swallow or a crane;I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak looking upward.Lord, I am oppressed; support me.
15. What can I say?He has spoken to me,and He Himself has done it.I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul,
16. Lord, because of these promises people live, and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well;You have restored me to health and let me live.
17. Indeed, it was for my own welfarethat I had such great bitterness; but Your love has delivered mefrom the Pit of destruction, for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.