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href="../isaiah/38-1.htm" title="Isaiah 38:1">◄</a> Isaiah 38:2 <a href="../isaiah/38-3.htm" title="Isaiah 38:3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/isaiah/38.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/isaiah/38.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/isaiah/38.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/isaiah/38.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/isaiah/38.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/isaiah/38.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/isaiah/38.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/isaiah/38.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/38.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/isaiah/38.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/isaiah/38.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/isaiah/38.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/isaiah/38.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/isaiah/38.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/isaiah/38.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/isaiah/38.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/isaiah/33-17.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/isaiah/38.htm" title="Pulpit 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href="/commentaries/sermon/isaiah/38.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/isaiah/38.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/teed/isaiah/38.htm" title="Teed Bible Commentary">Teed</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/isaiah/38.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/isaiah/38.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/isaiah/38.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(2) <span class= "bld">Turned his face toward the wall . . .</span>—The royal couch was in the corner, as the Eastern place of honour, the face turned to it, as seeking privacy and avoiding the gaze of men. (Comp. Ahab in <a href="/1_kings/21-4.htm" title="And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.">1Kings 21:4</a>.)<p><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/isaiah/38.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>38:1-8 When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us such an answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven, and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his, we do not pray in vain. See 2Ki 20:1-11.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/isaiah/38.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall - The wall of the room in which he was lying He was probably lying on a couch next the wall of his room. Eastern houses usually have such couches or ottomans running along on the sides of the room on which they recline, and on which they lie when they are sick. Hezekiah probably turned his face to the wall in order that his emotion and his tears might not be seen by the bystanders, or in order that he might compose himself the better for devotion. His prayer he wished, doubtless, to be as secret as possible. The Chaldee renders this, 'Turned his face to the wall of the house of the sanctuary;' that is, of the temple, so that it might appear that be prayed toward the temple. Thus Daniel; when in Babylon, is said to have prayed with his windows opened toward Jerusalem <a href="/daniel/6-10.htm">Daniel 6:10</a>. The Mahometans pray everywhere with their faces turned toward Mecca. But there is no evidence in the Hebrew text that Hezekiah prayed in that manner. The simple idea is, that he turned over on his couch toward the wall of his room, doubtless, for the greater privacy, and to hide his deep emotion. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/isaiah/38.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>2. The couches in the East run along the walls of houses. He turned away from the spectators to hide his emotion and collect his thoughts for prayer.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/isaiah/38.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/isaiah/38.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall,.... Not figuratively to the wall of his heart, as Jerom; but literally, either to the wall of his bedchamber where he lay sick, that his tears might not be seen, and his prayers interrupted, and that he might deliver them with more privacy, freedom, and fervency; or else to the wall of the temple, as the Targum, towards which good men used to look when they prayed, <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/8-38.htm">1 Kings 8:38</a>, which was a type of Christ, to whom we should have respect in all our petitions, as being the only Mediator between God and man: and prayed unto the Lord; as follows: <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/isaiah/38.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">Then Hezekiah <span class="cverse3">{b}</span> turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD,</span><p>(b) For his heart was touched with fear of God's judgment, seeing he had appointed him to die so quickly after his deliverance from so great calamity, as one unworthy to remain in that estate, and also foreseeing the great change that would come in the Church, as he left no son to reign after him: for as yet Manasseh was not born, and when he reigned, we see what a tyrant he was.</div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/isaiah/38.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">2</span>. <span class="ital">turned his face toward the wall</span>] (cf. <a href="/1_kings/21-4.htm" title="And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.">1 Kings 21:4</a>) an instinctive expression of the feeling that he was alone with God in this bitter moment.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/isaiah/38.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall</span>. The action resembles that of Ahab (<a href="/1_kings/21-4.htm">1 Kings 21:4</a>); but the spirit is wholly different. Ahab turned away in sullenness, Hezekiah that he might pray undisturbed Beds seem to have been placed in the corners of rooms, with the head against one wall of the room, and one side against another. Isaiah 38:2<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/isaiah/38.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>There is nothing to surprise us in the fact that we are carried back to the time when Jerusalem was still threatened by the Assyrian, since the closing vv. of chapter 37 merely contain an anticipatory announcement, introduced for the purpose of completing the picture of the last Assyrian troubles, by adding the fulfilment of Isaiah's prediction of their termination. It is within this period, and indeed in the year of the Assyrian invasion (<a href="/isaiah/36-1.htm">Isaiah 36:1</a>), since Hezekiah reigned twenty-nine years, and fifteen of these are promised here, that the event described by Isaiah falls - an event not merely of private interest, but one of importance in connection with the history of the nation also. "In those days Hizkiyahu became dangerously ill. And Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, came to him, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah, Set thine house in order: for thou wilt die, and not recover. Then Hizkiyahu turned (K. om.) his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah, and said (K. saying), O Jehovah, remember this, I pray, that I have walked before thee in truth, and with the whole heart, and have done what was good in Thine eyes! And Hizkiyahu wept with loud weeping." "Give command to thy house" (ל, cf., אל, <a href="/2_samuel/17-23.htm">2 Samuel 17:23</a>) is equivalent to, "Make known thy last will to thy family" (compare the rabbinical tsavvâ'âh, the last will and testament); for though tsivvâh is generally construed with the accusative of the person, it is also construed with Lamed (e.g., <a href="/exodus/1-22.htm">Exodus 1:22</a>; cf., אל, <a href="/exodus/16-34.htm">Exodus 16:34</a>). חיה in such a connection as this signifies to revive or recover. The announcement of his death is unconditional and absolute. As Vitringa observes, "the condition was not expressed, because God would draw it from him as a voluntary act." The sick man turned his face towards the wall (פּניו הסב, hence the usual fut. cons. ויּסּב as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/21-4.htm">1 Kings 21:4</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/21-8.htm">1 Kings 21:8</a>, <a href="/1_kings/21-14.htm">1 Kings 21:14</a>), to retire into himself and to God. The supplicatory אנּה (here, as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/116-4.htm">Psalm 116:4</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/116-16.htm">Psalm 116:16</a>, and in all six times, with ה) always has the principal tone upon the last syllable before יהוה equals אדני (<a href="/nehemiah/1-11.htm">Nehemiah 1:11</a>). The metheg has sometimes passed into a conjunctive accent (e.g., <a href="/genesis/50-17.htm">Genesis 50:17</a>; <a href="/exodus/32-31.htm">Exodus 32:31</a>). אשׁר את does not signify that which, but this, that, as in <a href="/deuteronomy/9-7.htm">Deuteronomy 9:7</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/2_kings/8-12.htm">2 Kings 8:12</a>, etc. "In truth," i.e., without wavering or hypocrisy. שׁלם בלב, with a complete or whole heart, as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/8-61.htm">1 Kings 8:61</a>, etc. He wept aloud, because it was a dreadful thing to him to have to die without an heir to the throne, in the full strength of his manhood (in the thirty-ninth year of his age), and with the nation in so unsettled a state. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/isaiah/38-2.htm">Isaiah 38:2 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../isaiah/38-1.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Isaiah 38:1"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Isaiah 38:1" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../isaiah/38-3.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Isaiah 38:3"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Isaiah 38:3" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>