Isaiah 38:3
“And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Hezekiah appeals to his covenant faithfulness and weeps with the full force of his anguish.
Context
The king recounts his own integrity before God, not as boasting but as the ground of his plea for mercy.
What Does Isaiah 38:3 Mean?
Hezekiah does not hide behind false humility or self-recrimination. He speaks plainly of his faithfulness, his sincere heart, his deeds of obedience. This is not arrogance but honesty. He has walked before the LORD in truth, and he asks God to remember that fact. The tears that follow are not a performance but the breaking open of a soul that has loved God and now faces the loss of everything he has built.
The combination of clear conscience and deep weeping shows us the shape of genuine prayer in extremity. We may come before God with confidence in our sincerity, yet also with the knowledge that sincerity alone cannot buy us one more day. Both things are true, and both matter. The heart that knows its own goodness and still bends the knee is the heart that God hears.
In the Original Language
tamim (תמים), 'perfect' -- wholeness, integrity, a heart without division or hidden rebellion.
Application
We may approach God with our whole honest record, neither hiding our failures nor pretending we have done no good. Truth before God is the ground of all real intercession.