2 Kings 20:1–11

HEZEKIAH’S ILLNESS AND RECOVERY

20In those days^g Hezekiah became terminally ill.^h The prophet Isaiahⁱ 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.’ ”^j

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall^k and prayed to the Lord, ³“Please, Lord, remember^l how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.”^Am And Hezekiah wept bitterly.ⁿ

⁴Isaiah 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^o of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;^p 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. ⁶I 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.’ ”^q

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.^r

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign^s that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day?”

⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign^t 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?”

¹⁰Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹So the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow^A back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.^u