Bible Strands
Isaiah 38:5
“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Isaiah to Hezekiah in direct response to his prayer (v.3), positioned between the death sentence and the promise of deliverance from Assyria (v.6).
The words — הָלֹךְ (ha.Lokh) is the bare imperative "go," driving the scene into action before a single word of the message is spoken. אָמַר ('a.Mar) appears twice, chaining Isaiah's speech to Yahweh's so the reader hears both voices in one breath.
The thread — 1 John 5:14 states the principle behind this verse: "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."
Why it lands — The verse presents prayer as something God answers with a number (fifteen years) and a name (Hezekiah), not a general blessing. It asks the reader to treat their own petitions as things God takes seriously enough to answer specifically.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Psalms 34:5 Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed.
- 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
- Luke 1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.
- Psalms 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
- Psalms 56:8 You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
- 2 Kings 19:20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.
- Psalms 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
- Matthew 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
- 2 Corinthians 7:6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,