9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10 I said, “aIn the middle of my life
I am to enter the bgates of Sheol;
I am to be cdeprived of the rest of my years.”
11 I said, “I will not see Yah,
Yah ain the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 Like a shepherd’s atent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a bweaver I crolled up my life.
He dcuts me off from the loom;
From eday until night You make an end of me.
13 I soothed my soul until morning.
aLike a lion—so He bshatters all my bones;
From cday until night You make an end of me.
14 aLike a swallow, like a crane, so I chirped;
I bmoan like a dove;
My ceyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my dsecurity.
15 “aWhat shall I say?
Indeed, He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will bwander about all my years because of the cbitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, aby these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
bO restore me to health and clet me live!
17 Behold, for my own well‑being I had great bitterness;
But it is You who has aheld back my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have bcast all my sins behind Your back.
18 For aSheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down bto the pit cannot keep watch for Your truth.
19 It is the aliving, the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A bfather makes known to his sons about Your truth.
20 Yahweh is here to save me;
So we will aplay my songs on stringed instruments
bAll the days of our life cat the house of Yahweh.”