8. I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow returned ten steps on the sundial by which it had gone down.
9. This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10. I said: In the middle of my days,I shall go to the gates of Sheol;I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.
11. I said, I shall not see the Lord,even the Lord, in the land of the living;I shall see man no morewith the inhabitants of the world.
12. My dwelling is pulled upand removed from me as a shepherd’s tent;I rolled up my life like a weaver.He cuts me off from the loom;from day even to night You make an end of me.
13. I composed my soul until morning,like a lion, so He breaks all my bones;from day even to night You make an end of me.
14. Like a crane or a swallow, so I twitter;I mourn as a dove;my eyes look wistfully upward.O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
15. What shall I say?For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it.I shall wander about all my yearsin the bitterness of my soul.
16. O Lord, by these things men live,and in all these things is the life of my spirit;O restore me to healthand make me live!
17. Surely it was for my own peacethat I had great bitterness;but You have kept my soulfrom the pit of corruption,for You have cast all my sinsbehind Your back.
18. For Sheol cannot thank You,death cannot praise You;those who go down into the pitcannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19. It is the living who give thanks to You,as I do this day;a father explains to his sonsabout Your faithfulness.
20. The Lord shall surely save me;therefore, we will sing my songs to the stringed instrumentsall the days of our livesin the house of the Lord.
21. For Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and lay it on the boil, and he shall recover.”