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Isaiah 38:10-20
The Message
Isaiah 38:10-20
The Message
9-15 This is what Hezekiah king of Judah wrote after he’d been sick and then recovered from his sickness:
In the very prime of life
I have to leave.
Whatever time I have left
is spent in death’s waiting room.
No more glimpses of God
in the land of the living,
No more meetings with my neighbors,
no more rubbing shoulders with friends.
This body I inhabit is taken down
and packed away like a camper’s tent.
Like a weaver, I’ve rolled up the carpet of my life
as God cuts me free of the loom
And at day’s end sweeps up the scraps and pieces.
I cry for help until morning.
Like a lion, God pummels and pounds me,
relentlessly finishing me off.
I squawk like a doomed hen,
moan like a dove.
My eyes ache from looking up for help:
“Master, I’m in trouble! Get me out of this!”
But what’s the use? God himself gave me the word.
He’s done it to me.
I can’t sleep—
I’m that upset, that troubled.
16-19 O Master, these are the conditions in which people live,
and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive—
fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life!
It seems it was good for me
to go through all those troubles.
Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline.
You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing.
But my sins you let go of,
threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!
The dead don’t thank you,
and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue.
Those buried six feet under
don’t witness to your faithful ways.
It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you,
just as I’m doing right now.
Parents give their children
full reports on your faithful ways.
* * *
20 God saves and will save me.
As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes,
We’ll sing, oh we’ll sing, sing,
for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of God.
Isaiah 38:10-20
New International Version
Isaiah 38:10-20
New International Version
10 I said, “In the prime of my life(A)
must I go through the gates of death(B)
and be robbed of the rest of my years?(C)”
11 I said, “I will not again see the Lord himself(D)
in the land of the living;(E)
no longer will I look on my fellow man,
or be with those who now dwell in this world.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent(F) my house
has been pulled down(G) and taken from me.
Like a weaver I have rolled(H) up my life,
and he has cut me off from the loom;(I)
day and night(J) you made an end of me.
13 I waited patiently(K) till dawn,
but like a lion he broke(L) all my bones;(M)
day and night(N) you made an end of me.
14 I cried like a swift or thrush,
I moaned like a mourning dove.(O)
My eyes grew weak(P) as I looked to the heavens.
I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”(Q)
15 But what can I say?(R)
He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.(S)
I will walk humbly(T) all my years
because of this anguish of my soul.(U)
16 Lord, by such things people live;
and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health
and let me live.(V)
17 Surely it was for my benefit(W)
that I suffered such anguish.(X)
In your love you kept me
from the pit(Y) of destruction;
you have put all my sins(Z)
behind your back.(AA)
18 For the grave(AB) cannot praise you,
death cannot sing your praise;(AC)
those who go down to the pit(AD)
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living—they praise(AE) you,
as I am doing today;
parents tell their children(AF)
about your faithfulness.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.