3 and said, Ah, Jehovah, remember, I beseech thee, 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 much.
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for Jehovah hath heard the voice of my weeping.
Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds which I have done for the house of my God, and for the charges thereof!
Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah reckoneth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile!
I have set Jehovah continually before me; because [he is] at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his ordinances were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me; And I was upright with him, and kept myself from mine iniquity. And Jehovah hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. With the gracious thou dost shew thyself gracious; with the upright man thou dost shew thyself upright; With the pure thou dost shew thyself pure; and with the perverse thou dost shew thyself contrary. For it is thou that savest the afflicted people; but the haughty eyes wilt thou bring down.
{To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.} Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob protect thee; May he send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; Remember all thine oblations, and accept thy burnt-offering; Selah.
I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. When wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us,
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Behold [one] truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile.
Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears; (and having been heard because of his piety;)
For God [is] not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which ye have shewn to his name, having ministered to the saints, and [still] ministering.
For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
This is the history of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect amongst his generations: Noah walked with God.
And thou shalt do what is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest enter in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers,
And his servants said to him, What thing is this which thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child alive; but as soon as the child is dead, thou dost rise and eat bread. And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I thought, Who knows? [perhaps] Jehovah will be gracious to me, that the child may live.
But the high places were not removed; only, Asa's heart was perfect with Jehovah all his days.
He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among any] that were before him. And he clave to Jehovah, and did not turn aside from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses.
And Enoch walked with God after he had begotten Methushelah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, yet not with a perfect heart.
And thus did Hezekiah throughout Judah, and wrought what was good and right and true before Jehovah his God. And in every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.
And while Ezra prayed, and made confession, weeping and falling down before the house of God, there were gathered to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children; for the people wept very much.
And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,
And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to hallow the sabbath day. Remember this also for me, my God, and spare me according to thy great loving-kindness!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 38
Commentary on Isaiah 38 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 38
This chapter proceeds in the history of Hezekiah. Here is,
This is a chapter which will entertain the thoughts, direct the devotions, and encourage the faith and hopes of those that are confined by bodily distempers; it visits those that are visited with sickness.
Isa 38:1-8
We may hence observe, among others, these good lessons:-
Isa 38:9-22
We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song, which he penned, by divine direction, after his recovery. He might have taken some of the psalms of his father David, and made use of them for his purpose; he might have found many very pertinent ones. He appointed the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, 2 Chr. 29:30. But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he had, though of divine inspiration, but would offer up his affections in his own words, which is most natural and genuine. He put this thanksgiving in writing, that he might review it himself afterwards, for the reviving of the good impressions made upon him by the providence, and that it might be recommended to others also for their use upon the like occasion. Note, There are writings which it is proper for us to draw up after we have been sick and have recovered. It is good to write a memorial of the affliction, and of the frame of our hearts under it,-to keep a record of the thoughts we had of things when we were sick, the affections that were then working in us,-to write a memorial of the mercies of a sick bed, and of our release from it, that they may never be forgotten,-to write a thanksgiving to God, write a sure covenant with him, and seal it,-to give it under our hands that we will never return again to folly. It is an excellent writing which Hezekiah here left, upon his recovery; and yet we find (2 Chr. 32:25) that he rendered not again according to the benefit done to him. The impressions, one would think, should never have worn off, and yet, it seems, they did. Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. Now in this writing he preserves upon record,