Isaiah 38:9

“The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, &c.] The Septuagint and Arabic versions call it a “prayer”: but the Targum, much better, “a writing of confession;” in which the king owns his murmurings and complaints under his affliction, and acknowledges the goodness of God in delivering him out of it: this he put into writing, as a memorial of it, for his own benefit, and for the good of posterity; very probably he carried this with him to the temple, whither he went on the third day of his illness, and hung it up in some proper place, that it might be read by all, and be sung by the priests and the Levites; and the Prophet Isaiah has thought fit to give it a place among his prophecies, that it…”

“The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Isa 38:9 is the heading or inscription.”

“The writing of Hezekiah - This is the title to the following hymn - a record which Hezekiah made to celebrate the goodness of God in restoring him to health. The writing itself is poetry, as is indicated by the parallelism, and by the general structure. It is in many respects quite obscure - an obscurity perhaps arising from the brevity and conciseness which are apparent in the whole piece. It is remarkable that this song or hymn is not found in the parallel passage in the Book of Kings. The reason why it was omitted there, and inserted here, is unknown. It is possible that it was drawn up for Hezekiah by Isaiah, and that it is inserted here as a part of his composition, though adopted by…”

“38:9-20 Hezekiah’s poem contains both lament (38:9-14) and praise (38:15-20), although the praise is distinctly muted until the final verse.”

“writing: Isa 12:1-6; Exod. 15:1-21; Judg. 5:1-31; Sa1 2:1-10; Psa 18:1 \*title Psa 30:11, Psa 30:12, Psa 107:17-22, Psa 116:1-4, Psa 118:18, Psa 118:19; Jon 2:1-9 he had: Deu 32:39; Sa1 2:6; Job 5:18; Hos 6:1, Hos 6:2; We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving song, which he penned by Divine direction, after his recovery. He might have used some of the Psalms of David his father, as he had appointed the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, Ch2 29:30, but the occasion here was extraordinary. His heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he had, though of Divine inspiration, but offered up his praises in his own words. The Lord put a new…”

“As a documentary proof of this third account, a psalm of Hezekiah is added in the text of Isaiah, in which he celebrates his miraculous rescue from the brink of death. The author of the book of Kings has omitted it; but the genuineness is undoubted. The heading runs thus in Isa 38:9 : "Writing of Hizkiyahu king of Judah, when he was sick, and recovered from his sickness." The song which follows might be headed Mikhtam, since it has the characteristics of this description of psalm (see at Psa 16:1). We cannot infer from bachălōthō (when he was sick) that it was composed by Hezekiah during his illness (see at Psa 51:1); vayyechi (and he recovered) stamps it as a song of thanksgiving,…”