Isaiah 38

[Daniel 4:27] "'Wherefore, O king, let my counsel meet with thy favor, and make up for thy sins by deeds of charity, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps God will forgive thy transgressions.'" Since he had previously pronounced the sentence of God, which of course cannot be altered, how could he exhort the king to deeds of charity and acts of mercy towards the poor? This difficulty is easily solved by reference to the example of King Hezekiah, who Isaiah had said was going to die (Isaiah 38:1); and again, to the example of the Ninevites, to whom it was said: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed" (Jonah 3:4). And yet the sentence of God was changed in response to the prayers of Hezekiah and the city of Nineveh, not by any means because of the ineffectualness of the judgment itself but because of the conversion of those who merited pardon. Morever in Jeremiah God states that He threatens evil for the nation (Jeremiah 18:7-8), but if it does that which is good, He will alter His threats to bestow mercy. Again, He affirms that He directs His promises to the man who does good; and if the same man thereafter works evil, He says that He changes His decision, not with regard to the men themselves, but with regard to their works which have thus changed in character. For after all, God is not angered at men but at their sins; and when no sins inhere in a man, God by no means inflicts a punishment which has been commuted. In other words, let us say that Nebuchadnezzar performed deeds of mercy toward the poor in accordance with Daniel's advice, and for that reason the sentence against him was delayed of execution for twelve months. But because he afterwards while walking about in his palace at Babylon said boastingly: "Is this not the great Babylon which I myself have built up as a home for the king by the might of my power and the glory of my name?" therefore he lost the virtue of his charitableness by reason of the wickedness of his pride.

"It may be that God will forgive thy sins." In view of the fact that the blessed Daniel, foreknowing the future as he did, had doubts concerning God's decision, it is very rash on the part of those who boldly promise pardon to sinners. And yet it should be recognized that indulgence was promised to Nebuchadnezzar in return, as long as he wrought good works. Much more, then, is it promised to other men who have committed less grievous sins than he. We read in Jeremiah also of God's direction to the people of the Jews, that they should pray for the Babylonians, inasmuch as the peace of the captives was bound up with the peace of the captors themselves (Jeremiah 29:7).

St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FOUR

(Chapter 38, Verse 1) In those days, Hezekiah fell sick even unto death. And Isaiah, the son of Amos the prophet, came to him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live. Whom the Lord loves, He corrects and disciplines every son whom He receives (Prov. III). In order that Ezechias' heart would not be lifted up after incredible triumphs, and victory over the midst of captivity, he is visited with infirmity of his body, and hears that he will die, so that, being converted, he may turn to the Lord's judgment. Indeed, we read about this in the prophet Jonah, and in the threats that are said to be future against David, which did not happen, not because God changed His judgment, but because He incited the human race to the knowledge of Himself. For the Lord is remorseful over evils.

Commentary on Isaiah

771. In those days. In this part, he sets out some things occasioned by the preceding history, namely, the sickness of Ezechias, which he incurred because of his ingratitude, because after such a victory he did not compose a song of thanksgiving, as was the custom. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he sets out his sickness and healing;

in the second, he sets out the congratulations of his friends: at that time (ch. 39).

Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, he sets out the sickness;

second, his delivery from it: and Ezechias turned his face (Isa 38:2);

third, the order of the delivery: now Isaiah had ordered (Isa 38:21).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he sets out the sickness: Ezechias was sick: a grievous sickness makes the soul sober (Sir 31:2);

second, he sets out the announcement of death: and Isaiah the son of Amos the prophet came unto him; take order, arranging who ought to succeed you: in the time when you shall end the days of your life, and in the time of your decease, distribute your inheritance (Sir 33:24).

772. On the contrary, it is objected that he lived afterwards and did not die; therefore, what the prophet said to him, you shall die, was false, and was not announcing the issue of things with invariable truth.

To which it is to be said that while the plans for all things which happen in the entire course of time have existed in God from eternity, some were placed into things which are unfolded through the work of nature and will; others he retained only to himself, so that when he wills them, he brings them into actuality. Therefore, prophets see in the mirror of eternity as much of either of these as God wishes to reveal to them. Therefore those plans had been revealed to Isaiah, which were placed into things—things that come to be through inferior causes, namely, natural and meritorious causes—according to which the sickness of the king was ordered toward death. Thus, as to the sense which is found in the words of the prophet, he spoke the truth, because according to inferior causes, it was so; similarly too, as to the other sense, which the Holy Spirit understood, he spoke the truth, because he died to that ingratitude when afterwards, he gave the thanks he owed to God, just as Ninive also was overturned as to the state of its iniquity, as Augustine says.

780. In death I will trust the house of conscience (see 38:1), if it is pure from the contagion of sin, below: the place is too strait for me (Isa 49:20); that I should depart from my sanctuary (Ezek 8:6); if it is firm in good works: the rain fell (Matt 7:25); if it is great with love, below: the place is too strait for me (Isa 49:20); below: enlarge the place (Isa 54:2).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 2) And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord. And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, because he could not go to the Temple. To the wall of the Temple, next to which Solomon had built a palace. Or rather, next to Jeremiah, to his heart; who calls the heart a wall, so that with his whole mind he might pray to the Lord.

Commentary on Isaiah

773. And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall. Here he sets out his delivery from sickness, and concerning this, he sets out three things:

first, the prayer of Ezechias is set out;

second, the promise of healing: and the word of the Lord came to Isaiah (Isa 38:4);

third, the thanksgiving of Ezechias: the writing of Ezechias (Isa 38:9).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things.

First, his preparation for prayer: toward the wall, of the temple, or of his house, so that he might pray more devoutly and privately: I have called upon you in the day of my trouble (Ps 86:7).

Commentary on Isaiah

Do you want to know the power of repentance? Do you want to understand this strong weapon of salvation and the might of confession? By confession Hezekiah routed 185, of the enemy. That was important, but it was small compared with what else happened. The same king’s repentance won the repeal the sentence God had passed on him. When he was sick, Isaiah had said, “Give direction for your household, for you will surely die, and not live.” What expectation was left? What hope of recovery was there? The prophet had said, “You will surely die.” But Hezekiah remembered what was written: “In the hour that you turn and lament, you will be saved.” He turned his face to the wall, and from his bed of pain his mind soared up to heaven (for no wall is so thick as to stifle fervent prayer). He said, “Lord, remember me.” … He whom the prophet’s sentence had forbidden to hope was granted fifteen further years of life, the sun turning back its course as a witness.

Catechetical Lecture 2:15

Hearing that he was about to die, Hezekiah prayed not that he be granted several more years of life but that he be permitted to stand before the judgment of God, as he wished. For he knew that Solomon pleased God by not asking for a longer life. Preparing to journey to the Lord, therefore, Hezekiah chronicled his works, how he had walked before the Lord in truth and in perfection of heart. Happy is the conscience that remembers good works at a time of affliction: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” or as it is written elsewhere, “Who will glory in the purity of his heart?” This is the explanation: perfection of heart can now be attributed to him because he destroyed idols, overturned the vessels of Baal in the temple, shattered the bronze serpent and did other things that Scripture commemorates.

Commentary on Isaiah 11:38.1-3

(Verse 3) I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Hezekiah wept with great weeping. And he said: I beseech you, Lord, remember, please, how I have walked before you in truth, and with a perfect heart, and that I have done what is good in your eyes. And knowing that he is about to die, he does not pray for a long life and many years, but instead asks what he should offer in God's judgement. For he knew that Solomon pleased God because he did not ask for a longer life; but going to the Lord, he recounts his works, how he walked before Him in truth and with a perfect heart. Happy is the conscience that remembers good deeds during times of affliction: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). And when elsewhere it is written: Who shall glory in having a pure heart (Prov. XX, 9)? This is solved as follows: the perfection of the heart is now said to consist in the fact that it has destroyed idols, perverted the vessels of the temple of Baal, broken the brazen serpent, and done other things that Scripture mentions. However, he wept with great weeping because of the Lord's promise to David, which he saw would perish in his death. For at that time Hezekiah had no sons; for after his death, Manasseh, when he was twelve years old, began to reign in Judah. From which it is clear that three years after his life was granted, Manasseh was born. Therefore, all this weeping is because he despaired of Christ being born from his own seed. Others assert that even holy men are afraid of death due to uncertainty of judgement and ignorance of God's sentence, of which seat they will inhabit. And at the same time, the question of fate is resolved, and the bonds of necessity and causes, in that the day of death is by no means appointed to each individual, but rather someone may live or die by the will of God and unknown mortal causes, especially since the appointed necessity of death is now delayed, and we have read of many who were resurrected after death.

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, he sets out the prayer itself: and prayed; remember, that you would grant me life for the good things I have done, for God is said to have forgotten when he does not give a reward; in truth, of worship of you, with a perfect heart, as to love.

On the contrary, Proverbs 20:9 says: who can say: my heart is clean?; and to this is to be said that he does not say that his heart is perfect absolutely, but as to the fact that he had not halted after idols, as it says in 1 Kings 18:21. In the day of evils be not unmindful of good things (Sir 11:25).

Third, he sets out his compunction, and Ezechias wept: blessed are they that mourn (Matt 5:5): the prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased you (Jdt 9:16).

Commentary on Isaiah

4–6

(Verses 4-6) And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying: Go and tell Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord God of David, your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your days, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will protect it. The history, which is read consecutively in the volume of Kings, is referred to in a seemingly backwards order, as if it were a prophetic account. While Hezekiah was weeping with great sorrow, before Isaiah had left the middle part of the courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying: Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. But the Prophet of the Lord returns to the king by the command, in order to heal the one who had struck him; and he is called Hezekiah, the leader of his people, and the son of David, whose works he followed, for he did what was right in all things as David his father had done; and his prayer is heard, and tears are seen, for he walked before the Lord in truth and with a perfect heart, and he wept with great weeping; and he did what was pleasing in his eyes. Fifteen years are added to his life, which he did not ask for, and moreover, while he is still alive, the security of the kingdom is promised to him. But if, as some think, to live in the body is a condemnation, and according to what is said: Return, my soul, into your rest (Ps. 114:7). And in another place: Bring my soul out of prison (Ps. 141:8), death is to be desired so that we may be freed from prison: how then does the Lord now grant as a favor that he who was to be set free should still live for fifteen years in prison?

Commentary on Isaiah

774. And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. Here the promise of healing is set out.

And first, he sets out the hearing of the prayer, and the word of the Lord came, before he left the middle of the court (2 Kgs 20:4).

Commentary on Isaiah

When Hezekiah, king of Judah, was still sick and weeping, there came an angel, and said to him: "I have seen thy tears, and I have heard thy voice. Behold, I add unto thy time fifteen years. And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord: Behold, I turn back the shadow of the degrees of the house of thy father, by which the sun has gone down, the ten degrees by which the shadow has gone down," so that day be a day of thirty-two hours. For when the sun had run its course to the tenth hour, it returned again. And again, when Joshua the son of Nun was fighting against the Amorites, when the sun was now inclining to its setting, and the battle was being pressed closely, Joshua, being anxious lest the heathen host should escape on the descent of night, cried out, saying, "Sun, stand thou still in Gibeon; and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon," until I vanquish this people. And the sun stood still, and the moon, in their places, so that day was one of twenty-four hours. And in the time of Hezekiah the moon also turned back along with the sun, that there might be no collision between the two elemental bodies, by their bearing against each other in defiance of law. And Merodach the Chaldean, king of Babylon, being struck with amazement at that time-for he studied the science of astrology, and measured the courses of these bodies carefully-on learning the cause, sent a letter and gifts to Hezekiah, just as also the wise men from the east did to Christ.

Exegetical Fragments

The number seven, as has often been said, denotes the week occasioned by the sabbath of the Old Testament. The number eight signifies the Lord’s day, on which he clearly rose again, and this is relevant to the New [Testament]. When joined together, they are seen to make up the number fifteen.… Some commentators think that the fifteen additional years accorded to King Hezekiah are related to this parallel, so that the number fifteen is shown to have signified the course of his perfect life.

Exposition of the Psalms 119

Prayer sometimes brings the dead back to life, but sometimes it may slay the living, as happened with the godly Peter. He brought Tabitha back to life by prayer, but he effected the death of Ananias and Sapphira. … The case of Hezekiah was also astonishing. Through prayer he added to the days of his life as king. He routed the mighty Assyrian army through the agency of a spiritual being.

Book of Perfection 41

I have heard your prayer, above: at the voice of your cry (Isa 30:19).

Second, he sets out the promise: behold I will add: you will add days to the days of the king (Ps 61:6).

Commentary on Isaiah

7–8

(Verses 7-8) And this shall be a sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word that he has spoken: Behold, I will turn back the shadow of the steps by which it has gone down on the sun dial of Ahaz ten steps backwards: and the sun returned ten steps by the same steps that it had gone down. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah: What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me? To whom did the prophet respond: This will be the sign from the Lord that the Lord will do the word he has spoken: Do you want the shadow to approach by so many lines, or do you want it to go back the same number of steps? To whom Hezekiah said: It is easy for the shadow to advance ten lines, but I do not want it to happen; rather, I want it to go back ten steps. And when Isaiah invoked the power of the Lord, the sign was fulfilled. However, a sign is given that the sun turns back by ten degrees, which we turn according to Symmachus into lines and a sundial, which understood the degrees in the lines in order to make a clearer sense to those reading. Whether the steps were constructed with mechanical skill, so that as the shadow descended, it would mark the hours. This sign was a type of both the present time and the future, so that just as the sun would return to the beginning of its course, so would Hezekiah's life return to the disclosed years; and for us who live in the week and the octave, through the resurrection of Christ, the spaces of life are extended. The holy places in this province are accustomed to show within the enclosed Temple the steps of the house of Hezekiah, or of Ahaz, which the sun descended through them. But I will never believe, not to mention Ahaz, who was a wicked king; but of any righteous king, that their house was in the Temple of God: since it is said that Solomon, among other things, offended God because he built on a high place, from where he used to look down on the courtyard of the Temple while walking in the tower of the palace (3 Kings 9).

Commentary on Isaiah

Third, he sets out the confirmation by a sign: and this shall be a sign to you.

Commentary on Isaiah

We find in the commentaries, written by our predecessors, that day had thirty-two hours. For when the sun had run its course, and reached the tenth hour, and the shadow had gone down by the ten degrees in the house of the temple, the sun turned back again by the ten degrees, according to the word of the Lord, and there were thus twenty hours. And again, the sun accomplished its own proper course, according to the common law, and reached its setting. And thus there were thirty-two hours.

Exegetical Fragments

For Hezekiah’s sake the sun turned back, but for Christ the sun was eclipsed. The sun did not simply retrace its path for Christ but was completely eclipsed. This shows the difference between Hezekiah and Jesus. The former’s prayer resulted in the canceling of God’s decree. But does not Jesus forgive sins? Repent, shut your door, and pray to be forgiven. Pray that Christ may remove you from the burning flames, for confession has power even to quench fire, power even to tame lions.

Catechetical Lecture 2:15

With the sun, that is, through the movement of the sun; ten lines, by which ten hours were calculated according to the movement of the shadow; and the sun returned: if it did so right away, then that artificial day had twenty-two hours of daylight, nearly doubled according to the Gloss; but if it returned through the lines successively, so that it came through ten and returned through ten and again went through ten, then that day had thirty-two hours, nearly tripled, according to Dionysius.

Now this was done, either with all the other heavenly bodies going back, or with the sun having a shorter path or a faster movement, so that it would reach its position at the same time as the others: in his days the sun went backward (Sir 48:23). And this sign coincided with the thing it signified, thus: when you shall think yourself consumed, you shall rise as the day star (Job 11:17).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 9) The Scripture of King Hezekiah of Judah when he became ill and recovered from his illness. LXX. The Prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and rose from his sickness. I wonder why only the Seventy have included this prayer in the scripture, since the prayer is called Thephellath (), not Machthar (). which is written in the current place; otherwise the prayer would be said subsequently, if it were about the present time and not the past. For it is evident that, after he had regained his health, he wrote this, as a testimony not of speech, but of thanksgiving for the favor he had received.

Commentary on Isaiah

775. The writing of Ezechias. Here his thanksgiving for the healing promised to him is set out.

And first, he sets out the title: the writing, namely, this is the writing;

second, he sets out the song: I said, in which he does three things: first, he laments the danger which he has escaped; second, he recalls the benefit which he has received: O Lord, if man's life be such (Isa 38:16); third, he asks for the fulfillment of what God has promised: O Lord, save me (Isa 38:20).

Commentary on Isaiah

“Thus, in desperation I said, ‘I will go to the gates of the netherworld,’ ” referring either to death by the common law of nature or to those gates from which the psalmist was liberated and therefore sings, “You who raise me from the gates of death, that I might declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.” I believe that these are the same gates of the netherworld that did not prevail against Peter, who fell asleep in the fullness of his days. The saints complete their days, like Abraham, who “died full of years at an old age.” Sinners and the impious, however, die in the midst of their days, about which the psalmist also speaks: “Men of blood and deception will not complete half of their days.” For they neither perform works of virtue nor strive to amend their faults through penance. Hence, they will be led to the netherworld with their lives half finished and in the darkness of error.

Commentary on Isaiah 11:38.10-13

(Verse 10) I said in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I have sought the remainder of my years. He narrates what he silently thought during the time of pressing distress and imminent weakness; I said, he says, in my heart, in the midst of my days, or as Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion have interpreted, in the weakness and silence of my days, for which the LXX have interpreted it as 'exalted' due to the similarity of the letters, reading 'Rame' instead of 'Dame': although some have turned it into 'Dame', so that the sense is 'In the blood of my days', when my blood, my destruction, was eagerly awaited. Therefore, in despair, I said: I will go to the gates of hell, either by the common law of nature, or those gates about which the Psalmist sings that he has been freed: 'You raised me up from the gates of death, that I may proclaim all your praises at the gates of the daughter of Zion' (Psalm 9:15). I believe these are the gates of hell, which do not prevail against Peter (Matthew 16), for he slept in the fullness of his days. The saints fulfill their days, as was the case with Abraham, who died full of days in old age (Genesis 25). But the sinners and the wicked die in the midst of their days, of whom the Psalmist also speaks: Men of blood and deceit will not live out half their days (Ps. 54:25). For they do not fulfill the works of virtue, nor do they strive to repent and amend their sins. Therefore, in the middle of the course of life, and in the darkness of errors, they will be led to Tartarus. I sought, he says, the remaining years of my life, not thinking that I would live any longer.

Commentary on Isaiah

And he laments three things.

First, the horror of death: in the midst of my days, that is, in my youth, to the gates of hell, that is, limbo, or death, or the grave: my life was drawing near to hell beneath (Sir 51:6).

Commentary on Isaiah

11–12

(Verses 11-12) I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest. My generation has ceased: it has been taken away and rolled up from me like a shepherd's tent. My life has been cut off as by a weaver: while I was still beginning, it cut me off. I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. For in Hebrew, the name 'Jah' is placed twice, which in the final syllable sounds 'Alleluia', for which the Seventy translated: 'I will not see the salvation of God in the land of the living' (Ps. CXIV, 9). It is also written in another place: 'I will please the Lord in the land of the living' (Ps. CXIV, 9). And again: 'I will please the Lord in the light of the living' (Ps. LV, 9). Therefore, the very region of the Saints is called the light of the living. For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. XXII). But this is everything that he fears: not to deserve to behold the salvation of God led to the underworld. It follows: I will not look upon man anymore, and the inhabitant of quietness. This we once connected with the following verse due to the ambiguity of the word; for the Hebrew word Holed, if read or written as Eled, means rest; if read or written as Edel, it means the West. Therefore, he fears that he does not dwell in quietness with the saints and men of God, that he does not see the Lord in the land of the living, that his generation will not dwell in an unshaken tabernacle, that it will not be cut off from the likeness of the web at the beginning of light, and that Christ will not arise from his seed. But as for our body being called a tabernacle, the Apostle instructs, saying: We who are in this tabernacle groan, burdened (2 Cor. V, 4).

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, he laments the loss of good things, as to the vision of God: I sought, from the Lord, that he might supply, the residue, taken away from me, or I sought in myself how much life remained for me. I said, to myself: I shall not see the Lord God, still only through a likeness, in the land of the living, in heavenly beatitude: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 27:13); or I shall not see the Lord God, any more, seeing the temple and the worship of the Lord, in the land of the living, namely, the land of the Jews: he is not the God of the dead but of the living (Matt 22:32). And as to the society of men: I shall behold man, living in this life, no more: there shall not a man dwell there (Jer 49:18). Or the man, Christ, promised to us.

Commentary on Isaiah

And as to the posterity of his sons: my generation, namely, of sons, for he did not yet have sons, is rolled away from me, folded up, so that it is not continued to his descendants, above: it shall be removed as the tent of one night (Isa 24:20). And as to the shortness of his life: my life is cut off, as by a weaver, while yet weaving an unfinished web; but beginning in youth: my days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver (Job 7:6).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 13) I hoped until morning; like a lion, it has crushed all my bones. From morning until evening you will finish me. In the morning, he says, you will finish me until evening: I hoped until morning: which Job also says he endured in his distress and bodily torments (Job IV), when in daylight he awaited night, and in darkness awaited light, thinking that the punishments could be changed by the shifting of seasons. He knows this to be true who is burning with great fevers, whose internal fire, like that of a lion, consumes all his bones, and who does not think he will survive beyond the magnitude of his pain.

Commentary on Isaiah

776. Third, he laments his anxiety of heart.

And first, as to the continual expectation of death: from morning, namely, I was speaking, even tonight you will make an end of me, in death. And then, not dying, I hoped, again, till morning, so that simultaneously with death the sorrow of sickness was ended; nonetheless, as a lion so has he, infirmity or God himself through the sorrow of sickness, broken all my bones: if I lie down to sleep, I shall say: when shall I rise? And again, I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness (Job 7:4).

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, as to the deferral of hope; and he sets out things: the compunction of the one who hopes: I will cry like a young swallow, looking for its mother, because it does not see her, like a dove, namely, with mourning: her bondwomen were led away mourning as doves (Nah 2:7). And he sets out the deferral of hope: my eyes are weakened, as though fatigued, looking upward, in hope: hope that is deferred afflicts the soul (Prov 13:12); I have lifted up my eyes (Ps 121:1). And he sets out a certain dispute with God: Lord, I suffer violence, as if to say: violence is done to me, I am afflicted beyond what I deserve; answer you, be surety, for me.

781. The eyes are exalted (Isa 38:14), by the elation of the heart: Lord, my heart is not exalted (Ps 131:1) and are weakened by God lowering them, above: the lofty eyes of man are humbled (Isa 2:11); by the curiosity of inquiry: why dost you stare with your eyes, as if they were thinking great things? (Job 15:12); and are weakened by the oppression of light: he that is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory (Prov 25:27); by contemplation, below: lift up your eyes on high (Isa 40:26), and are weakened because of smallness of thought: all men see him, every one beholds afar off (Job 36:25).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 15.) Like the chick of a swallow, so will I cry out: I will meditate as a dove: My eyes are weakened looking towards the height. Lord, I suffer violence; answer for me: what shall I say or what shall he answer me when he himself has done? LXX: Like a swallow, thus will I cry out; like a dove, thus will I meditate. For my eyes have failed from looking towards the height of heaven to the Lord: who delivers me, took away the pain of my soul, and he himself did it. Death was imminent, and the pain of illness weighing upon me, like a lion, was breaking all the bones of my body; but I, like a swallow and a dove, joined together day and night with weeping and moaning; and from God alone, who was able to help, I waited for assistance, with my eyes lifted up to the heights. And I said to him: I suffer more than my merits require; but even if I have gone astray, I will turn to the better; you answer for me: For it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy (Rom. 9:16). And it turns back again into itself: What can I say, or with what can I argue against my Creator? Or what will he answer to me, he who did himself what he wanted? Therefore, whatever he decides must be endured. The word for swallow, or swallow, as translated by the LXX, is written in Hebrew, Sus Agor (), which Aquila interpreted as horse Agor: Theodotius, Sis Agur (); for the middle vocal letter vau, if placed between two Samechs, is read as pig, and is called horse; if yod, it is read as swallow. However, Symmachus translated it as follows: As a swallow enclosed, so will I sing. This word is also found in Jeremiah, where it is written: The kite in the sky knew its time: the turtle-dove, and the swallow, and the stork kept their times (Jeremiah VIII, 7).

Commentary on Isaiah

What shall I say, as though turned to himself: what can I set against God? Or what shall he answer, when he must respond to my questions, whereas he himself has done it, made me, or my punishment: if he will contend with him (Job 9:3), below: shall he gainsays his maker (Isa 45:9).

Third, as to the recollection of past events: I will recount to you all my years, in which I suffered good things, or in which I sinned against you: I will speak in the affliction of my spirit (Job 7:11).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 16) I will consider all my years in the bitterness of my soul. Lord, if this is how one lives, and in such a life of my spirit, you will correct me and give me life. Nothing of the long things of mortals lasts, and all the happiness of the world, while it is held, is lost. For when the time of tribulation comes, everything that is past does not help the one who endures. Hence, the foolish sentiment of Epicurus is, who claims that the remembrance of past good things mitigates present misfortunes. Therefore, Hezekiah says that he considers all the years of his reign, and of his past, as happiness believed to be bitter in the present. And because he is now secure, and does not suffer what is recounted, he philosophizes about the human condition, and says: Lord, if this is how we live, and this is the condition in which we are born, You have chastised me, but You have also given me life, and You have bestowed peace by driving away the Assyrian; but my peace has been more bitter to me than all bitterness, because with tranquility restored to the people, and the city secure, I alone have entered the threshold of death.

Commentary on Isaiah

777. O Lord, if man's life be such. Here he recalls the benefit which he has received;

and first, correction: if man's life be such, that is, if the life of men is so miserable, or if life is acquired through tribulation: reproofs of instruction are the way of life (Prov 6:23).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 17) Behold, in peace is my bitterest bitterness. But you have saved my soul from perishing: you have cast all my sins behind your back. But you have delivered my soul, so that it would not perish, either in this present life or in the future. You have cast all my sins behind me, so that I may not behold them in sadness, but rather contemplate your mercy.

Commentary on Isaiah

And then he sets out: behold in peace, as if to say: in the people having peace from the Assyrians, bitterness, hangs over me: laughter shall be mingled with sorrow (Prov 14:13).

Second, he recalls his liberation from punishment: but you have delivered my soul, my life; and from guilt: you have cast all my sins behind your or my back, as though forgetting them: you have mercy upon all, Lord (Wis 11:24–25).

Commentary on Isaiah

18–19

[Those who live in a godly manner] and participate in such goodness are the only ones able to give glory to God, and that is what really constitutes a feast and a holy day. For the feast is not indulging in a lot of food or dressing up in lovely clothes. It is not enjoying days of leisure. It is acknowledging God and offering thanksgiving and songs of praise to him. But this belongs to the saints alone, who live in Christ.… That is the way it was with Hezekiah, who was delivered from death and therefore praised God, saying, “Those who are in hell cannot praise you; the dead cannot bless you; but the living shall bless you, as I do today.”

Festal Letter 7:3

For the netherworld and death will neither confess nor praise you, according to what is written: “In the netherworld, who will confess you?” Confession in this instance, moreover, is received not as an act of penance but as an offering of glory and praise, as we read in the Gospel: “I praise you Lord, Father of heaven and earth.” He also says: “They who descend to the pit will not hope for your truth,” which is better than the Septuagint’s “will not hope for your mercy.” For he who is in the grave hopes not for the truth of judgment but for the mercy of God, ultimately when the Savior will descend to the netherworld to liberate the captives from it.

Commentary on Isaiah 11:38

(Verse 18) For neither the underworld will confess to you, nor death praise you: those who descend into the pit will not await your truth. For hell and death will not confess or praise you, according to what is written: For in death there is no remembrance of you (Psalm 6:5). And here confession is understood not for repentance, but for glory and praise, as we also read in the Gospel, I confess to you, O Lord, Father of heaven and earth (Matthew 11:25). Those who descend into the pit will not expect your truth, he says, but rather your mercy, better than in the Septuagint. For he who is in hell does not expect the truth of judgment, but the mercy of God, especially when the Savior descended into hell to free the captives from the depths. They transferred the dead to the same place more clearly.

Commentary on Isaiah

Third, he assigns the reason for his liberation, and first, as to the uselessness of death: for hell, that is, the damned, or the grave; death, the devil, or the dead; your truth, the truth of his promises, or the Son: for there is no one in death, that is mindful of you: and who shall confess to you in hell? (Ps 6:5).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 19) Living, the living himself will confess to you, as I do today. The father will make your truth known to the children. The living, the living themselves will confess to you, just as I do today. And this confession is set forth for praise. For he does not confess his own crimes, but gives thanks to God; and there is no beautiful praise on the mouth of a sinner (Sirach 15). And when Hell and death do not confess or praise God, on the contrary, life and the living glorify the Lord. And what follows: The Father will make your truth known to your children, this signifies what is said in Deuteronomy: Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will inform you (Deuteronomy 32, 7), so that God's mercy may be proclaimed to posterity through successions and individual generations. For this reason the LXX translate it: 'From today I will beget sons who will announce your righteousness.' And the causal conjunction connects the following with what came before: that indeed, living beings and he himself, who will beget sons from this day, might bless God, because it was certainly not within their power. For those children were not promised through the prophet, but rather through the present life. Especially since Manasseh, the most impious son, was born, who filled Jerusalem with blood from gate to gate, and did not bless but cursed God, persecuting his saints. Therefore we can say according to the Septuagint that he said, 'I will make children' instead of 'sons': but by 'children' we understand either little ones, or young boys, or infants and later generations, so that all future posterity, knowing this, may praise his incredible mercy which he has obtained.

Commentary on Isaiah

"For from this day I shall beget children who will announce your righteousness." Some say that he promises to institute a choir [chorostasia] and to appoint chanters of psalms with good voices in the temple. Others, who pay attention to more esoteric things, say that Hezekiah, since he thought on a high plane, was of the opinion that he would have a kingdom without end and unceasing life. For he was persuaded that the writings concerning the son of David destined to be the Christ were said about himself. Hence they say, although he was in the fifteenth year of his reign he does not seem to have procreated children. Accordingly, on learning that his end was near, he pays attention to the question of his successors and adds with reference to his children that they will announce the righteousness of the Lord. However, this statement was not verified since. Manasseh was wicked and impious.

Commentary on Isaiah 3:4.38

Second, as to the praise of the living: the living, the living, repeated for greater affirmation, or because of the twofold life: we that live bless the Lord (Ps 115:18).

Third, as to the propagation of divine praise: the father shall make the truth known to the children: how great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children (Ps 78:5–6).

Commentary on Isaiah

At no time should one freely praise God more than when one has passed through afflictions. Nor again should one at any time give thanks more than when he finds rest from toil and temptations. As Hezekiah, when the Assyrians perished, praised the Lord and gave thanks, saying, “The Lord is my salvation, and I will not cease to bless you with harp all the days of my life, before the house of the Lord.”

Letter 10.3

(Verse 20) Lord, save me, and we will sing our songs all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. Therefore save me, O Lord; and all who believe in you and are delivered by your help, may we sing to you in the Temple all the days of our life.

Commentary on Isaiah

778. O Lord, save me. Here he asks that the promise be fulfilled: save me, from the Assyrians, and from infirmity: I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth (Ps 34:1).

Commentary on Isaiah

21–22

(Verses 21, 22.) And Isaiah commanded them to take a lump of figs and apply it to the boil, and he would be healed. And Hezekiah said that the sign would be that he would go up to the house of the Lord. This should be read before Hezekiah's prayer, or Scripture, which we have just interpreted: for the poultice was applied to the wound first, and the sign of future healing was requested from him before he thanked the Lord for healing him. The Hebrews say that the word Siin (), which the LXX omitted, means ulcer and not wound. For both Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion have interpreted it as sore, by which they want to understand a royal disease, which they think is contrary to, whether it is taken in food, or whatever sweet things are applied to the body. Therefore, in order to demonstrate the power of God, health is restored through harmful and adverse things. Others suspect Siin to be not an ulcer, but an abscess: when the body swells and becomes putrid, it is filled with pus. According to the art of doctors, all pus is drawn to the surface of the skin by applying dried and crushed figs: and therefore medicine should not be despised, which is based on use and experience: because God made this also. Therefore, the speech and expression of thanks have been written up to this point. But as for the sign that was given, the previous order of the story has narrated it.

Commentary on Isaiah

779. Now Isaiah had ordered. Here he sets out the order of the healing. And this has been transposed and ought to be before the giving of the sign, as is clear from 2 Kings 20:7–11; but because he intends not to give history, but prophecy, he first sets out what pertains to prophecy.

And first, he sets out the manner of the healing: lay it as a plaster upon the wound, inflicted by God, or an ulcer, flesh opened from a corrupted humor: for they say that he suffered from the royal disease, which is called "lupus," which the fig and everything sweet make worse, so that the entire healing should be attributed to divine power. Others say that it was an abscess, which occurs from humors collecting internally, when the flesh is not yet broken; figs are helpful for the maturation of an abscess, so that it is shown that medicine is not to be spurned: the apothecary shall make sweet confections (Sir 38:7).

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, Ezechias asks for a sign: and Ezechias had said: what shall be the sign? The Jews require signs: and the Greeks seek after wisdom (1 Cor 1:22).

Commentary on Isaiah