Isaiah 38:8
“Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The sun itself reverses its course by ten degrees as a sign of God's power over time and creation.
Context
The sun dial of Ahaz (Hezekiah's father) tracked time. The sign involves the most reliable measure of time itself moving backward.
What Does Isaiah 38:8 Mean?
The shadow moves backward. The sun returns in the sky. Time itself obeys the God who created it. This is not metaphor but a literal reversal of what seems most fixed in nature. The hours that have passed march backward in a way no human power can accomplish. Only the God who upholds all things by the word of His power can accomplish such a thing.
For Hezekiah, this sign is both comfort and awe. He is assured that his added years are not granted by luck or medicine but by the deliberate intervention of the Almighty. The sun's obedience to God's word becomes the proof that Hezekiah's life, too, obeys God's word. What was written as finished is reopened; what was sealed is unsealed. The Creator bends creation to confirm His love for His servant.
In the Original Language
ma'alot (מעלות), 'degrees' -- steps, degrees of ascent, used of the dial of Ahaz which measured hours by the shadow's position.
Application
The Lord's power extends even over time itself, and when He speaks life into us, that life is as secure as the laws of nature, which He commands.