Isaiah 38:8-10

New English Translation

⁸Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.”^[a] And then the shadow went back ten steps.^[b]

⁹This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness:

¹⁰“I thought,^[c]
‘In the middle of my life^[d] I must walk through the gates of Sheol,
I am deprived^[e] of the rest of my years.’

Isaiah 38:8 tn Heb “the shadow on the steps which it [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, with the sun, back ten steps.”sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.
Isaiah 38:8 tn Heb “and the sun returned ten steps on the steps which it had gone down.”
Isaiah 38:10 tn Or “I said” (KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
Isaiah 38:10 tn The precise meaning of the phrase בִּדְמִי יָמַי (bidmi yamay, “in the [?] of my days”) is uncertain. According to HALOT 226 s.v. דְּמִי this word is a hapax legomenon meaning “half.” Others derive the form from דַּמִי (dami, “quiet, rest, peacefulness”).
Isaiah 38:10 tn The precise meaning of the verb is uncertain. The Pual of of פָּקַד (paqad) occurs only here and in Exod 38:21, where it appears to mean “passed in review” or “mustered.” Perhaps the idea is, “I have been called away for the remainder of my years.” To bring out the sense more clearly, one can translate, “I am deprived of the rest of my years.”

New English Translation (NET)