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In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him: "Thus saith the LORD: Set thy house in order;
for thou shalt die, and not live."
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Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,
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and said: "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight." And Hezekiah wept sore.
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Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying:
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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.
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And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria;
and I will defend this city.
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And this shall be the sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He hath spoken:
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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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The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.
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I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go, even to the gates of the nether-world;
I am deprived of the residue of my years.
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I said: I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD in the land of the living;
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
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My habitation is plucked up and carried away from me as a shepherd"s tent;
I have rolled up like a weaver my life;
He will cut me off from the thrum;
from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.
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The more I make myself like unto a lion until morning, the more it breaketh all my bones;
from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.
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Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove;
mine eyes fail with looking upward.
O LORD, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.
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What shall I say?
He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it;
I shall go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.
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O Lord, by these things men live, and altogether therein is the life of my spirit;
wherefore recover Thou me, and make me to live.
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Behold, for my peace I had great bitterness;
but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;
for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.
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For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee;
they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.
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The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day;
the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.
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The LORD is ready to save me;
therefore we will sing songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
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And Isaiah said: "Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover."
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And Hezekiah said.
"What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"