Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
(2 Kings 20:1–11; 2 Chronicles 32:24–31)

1About this tyme was Hezekia sicke vnto death, and the prophete Esai the sonne of Amos came vnto hym, and sayde, Thus commaundeth the Lorde: Set thyne house in order, for thou must dye, and shalt not escape. 2Then Hezekia turned his face toward the wall, and prayed vnto the Lorde, 3And sayde: Remember O Lorde I beseche thee, that I haue walked before thee in trueth and a stedfast heart, & haue done the thyng that is pleasaunt to thee. And Hezekia wept sore.

4Then sayde God vnto Esai, 5Go and speake vnto Ezekia: The Lord God of Dauid thy father sendeth thee this worde, I haue hearde thy prayer, and considered thy teares: beholde I wyll put fifteene yeres mo vnto thy lyfe, 6And deliuer thee and the citie also from the hande of the kyng of Assyria: for I wyll defende the citie.

7And take thee this token of the Lord, that he wyll do it as he hath spoken. 8Beholde, I wyll returne the shadowe of Ahaz diall that nowe is layde out with the sunne, and bring it ten degrees backwarde: So the sunne turned ten degrees backwarde, the which he was descended afore.

Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving

9A thankesgeuyng which Hezekia kyng of Iuda wrote, when he had ben sicke and was recouered.

10I thought I shoulde haue gone to the gates of hell when myne age was shortened, and haue wanted the residue of my yeres.

11I spake within my selfe, I wyll neuer visite the Lorde the Lorde I say in this lyfe: I wyll neuer see man among the dwellers of the worlde.

12Myne age is folden together & taken away from me lyke a sheepheardes cotage, I haue hewen of my lyfe by my sinnes, lyke as a weauer cutteth of his webbe: He wyll with pinyng sicknesse make an ende of me, yea he wyll make an ende of me in one day.

13I thought I woulde haue lyued vntyll the morowe, but he brused my bones lyke a lion: and in one day thou wylt make an ende of me.

14Then chattered I lyke a swallowe, and lyke a crane, and mourned lyke a doue, I lift vp mine eyes into the heyght: O Lorde sayde my sicknesse kepeth me downe, ease thou me.

15What shall I say? The Lorde hath made a promise to me, yea and he hym selfe hath perfourmed it: I shall therefore so long as I lyue remember this bitternesse of my lyfe.

16O Lorde, to all those that shall lyue hereafter, yea to all men shall it be knowen, that euen in those yeres I haue a ioyfull lyfe, and that it was thou that causedst me to sleepe agayne, thou hast geuen lyfe to me.

17Beholde, bitter as gall was my pensiuenesse, so sore longed I for health, and it was thy pleasure to deliuer my lyfe from the filthy pit: for thou it is O Lorde that hast cast all my sinnes behynde thy backe.

18For hell prayseth not thee, death doth not magnifie thee: they that go downe into the graue prayse not thy trueth:

19But the lyuyng, yea the lyuyng knowledge thee, as I do this day: the father telleth his children of thy faythfulnesse.

20To heale me it is the Lordes worke, and we will sing my songes in the house of the Lorde all the dayes of our lyfe.

21And Esai sayde: Take a plaster of figges, and lay it vpon the sore, so shall it be whole. 22Then sayd Hezekia: O what a miracle is this, that I shall go vp into the house of the Lorde.