Isaiah 38 — Dead Sea Scrolls
22 verses • 9 variants • Columns XXX–XXXI of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Chapter 38 narrates Hezekiah's illness, his prayer, God's addition of 15 years, and Hezekiah's psalm of thanksgiving (vv. 10-20). The 22 verses mix prose narrative with poetry. The psalm section tends to have slightly more variants than the prose frame.
Notable Variants
Verse 8 has the sign of the shadow retreating on Ahaz's sundial — a unique miracle. Verse 11 has a variant in Hezekiah's lament. Verse 17 has the theological statement about suffering. Verse 21 has the famous fig-poultice medical detail.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved; fully legible.
In those days Hezekiah became deathly ill. Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz, came to him and said, 'This is what the LORD says: Set your house in order, for you are going to die — you will not recover.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXX, line 33
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXX, line 34
'Please, LORD, remember how I have walked before You in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Masoretic (WLC)
בִּכְי
weeping
Dead Sea Scroll
בכי
weeping
Identical consonantal text. Hezekiah's weeping prayer — face turned to the wall — is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 1
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 2
'Go and say to Hezekiah: This is what the LORD, the God of David your father, says — I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. I am adding fifteen years to your life.
Masoretic (WLC)
חֲמֵשׁ
five
Dead Sea Scroll
חמש
five
1QIsaiah-a writes חמש without the tsere of the MT's vocalized form. 'I will add fifteen years to your life' — the specific number is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 3
I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 4
This is the sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 5
I am going to make the shadow that has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz retreat ten steps backward by the sun.' And the sunlight went back ten steps on the stairway where it had gone down.
Masoretic (WLC)
הַמַּעֲלוֹת
the steps/dial
Dead Sea Scroll
המעלות
the steps/dial
1QIsaiah-a reads המעלות identically. The shadow retreating ten steps on the 'steps of Ahaz' (ma'alot Achaz) — possibly a sundial or a staircase — is one of the most enigmatic miracles in the Hebrew Bible. The physical mechanism is debated (atmospheric refraction? an architectural shadow-clock?) but both traditions preserve the same account. The sign validates Isaiah's prophecy of healing.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 6
A written prayer of Hezekiah king of Judah, after his illness and recovery:
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 7
I said: In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the rest of my years.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 8
I said: I will not see the LORD — Yah! Yah! — in the land of the living. I will look on humankind no more among the inhabitants of this fleeting world.
Masoretic (WLC)
יָהּ יָהּ
the LORD, the LORD
Dead Sea Scroll
יה יה
the LORD, the LORD
1QIsaiah-a reads יה יה (Yah Yah) identically — the shortened divine name doubled in Hezekiah's lament: 'I said, I shall not see Yah, Yah in the land of the living.' The doubling intensifies the grief of anticipated loss. Both traditions preserve this rare doubled form of the divine name.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 9
My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom. From day to night You bring me to an end.
Masoretic (WLC)
דּוֹרִי
my generation/dwelling
Dead Sea Scroll
דורי
my generation/dwelling
Identical consonantal text. The tent-pulling imagery — life as a nomadic dwelling being packed up — is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 10
I waited until morning — like a lion, He crushes all my bones. From day to night You bring me to an end.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 11
Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed — be my pledge of safety!
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 12
What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I will walk humbly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
Masoretic (WLC)
כָּאֲרִי
like a lion
Dead Sea Scroll
כארי
like a lion
Identical consonantal text. God breaking all Hezekiah's bones 'like a lion' — the sufferer accuses God of acting like a predator. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 13
O Lord, by these things people live, and in all of them is the life of my spirit. Restore me to health — let me live!
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 14
Truly, it was for my well-being that I suffered such bitterness. But You have loved my soul back from the pit of destruction, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
Masoretic (WLC)
מַר־לִי מָר
bitter to me, bitter
Dead Sea Scroll
מר לי מר
bitter to me, bitter
Both texts preserve the doubled 'bitter' (mar li mar) — 'In the bitterness of my soul: bitter to me, bitter.' The doubling is emphatic. But then the pivot: 'You have loved my soul from the pit of destruction' (literally 'you have lovingly embraced my soul out of the pit of nothingness'). The move from bitter suffering to divine rescue is preserved identically.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 15
For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the pit cannot hope in Your faithfulness.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 16
The living — the living — they praise You, as I do this day! A father makes Your faithfulness known to his children.
Masoretic (WLC)
חַיִּים
living
Dead Sea Scroll
חיים
living
Identical consonantal text. 'The living, the living — he gives you thanks' — the doubled 'living' emphasizes that only the alive can praise. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 17
The LORD is ready to save me! We will play our songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 18
Isaiah had said, 'Let them take a lump of figs and apply it as a poultice to the boil, and he will recover.'
Masoretic (WLC)
דְּבֶלֶת
lump of
Dead Sea Scroll
דבלת
lump of
1QIsaiah-a reads דבלת identically. The medical prescription — a fig-cake poultice applied to the boil — is one of the most concrete medical details in the Hebrew Bible. Isaiah functions as both prophet and physician here. Both traditions preserve this practical remedy.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 19
Hezekiah had said, 'What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 20