2 Kings 20

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

1 In those days  * 20:1–11 Is 38:1–8 Hezekiah became terminally ill.  * 20:1 2Ch 32:24 The prophet Isaiah  * 20:1 Is 1:1; 2:1 son of Amoz came and said to him, "This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ "  * 20:1 2Sm 17:23

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall  * 20:2 1Kg 21:4 and prayed to the Lord, 3 "Please, Lord, remember  * 20:3 Neh 5:19; 13:14,22,31 how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you."  * 20:3 Lit what is good in your eyes,* 20:3 2Kg 18:3–6 And Hezekiah wept bitterly.  * 20:3 2Sm 12:21–22

4 Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: 5 "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader  * 20:5 1Sm 9:16; 10:1 of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;  * 20:5 Ps 39:12 I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ "  * 20:6 2Kg 19:34

7 Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of pressed figs." So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.  * 20:7 Is 38:21

8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What is the sign  * 20:8 Jdg 6:17,37,39 that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day? "

9 Isaiah said, "This is the sign  * 20:9 Is 38:7 to you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps? "

10 Then Hezekiah answered, "It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps." 11 So the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow  * 20:11 Lit shadow on the steps back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.  * 20:11 Tg, Vg; DSS read on the steps of Ahaz’s roof chamber; Is 38:8,* 20:11 Jos 10:12–14; Is 38:8

Hezekiah’s Folly

12 At that time  * 20:12–19 Is 39:1–8 Merodach-baladan  * 20:12 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Tg, some Vg mss, Is 39:1; other Hb mss read Berodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil — and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.  * 20:13 2Ch 32:27

14 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "Where did these men come from and what did they say to you? "

Hezekiah replied, "They came from a distant country, from Babylon."

15 Isaiah asked, "What have they seen in your palace? "

Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them."

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord: 17 ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’  * 20:17 2Kg 24:13; 2Ch 36:10 says the Lord. 18 ‘Some of your descendants — who come from you, whom you father — will be taken away,  * 20:18 2Kg 24:12; 2Ch 33:11 and they will become eunuchs  * 20:18 Or court officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ "  * 20:18 Dn 1:3–7,11

19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,"  * 20:19 1Sm 3:18; 2Kg 22:20 for he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime? "

Hezekiah’s Death

20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool  * 20:20 Neh 3:16; Is 7:3 and the tunnel and brought water into the city,  * 20:20 2Ch 32:30 are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.  * 20:20 2Kg 16:1921 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.  * 20:20–21 2Ch 32:32–33