2 Kings 20

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20In those days ^rHezekiah became terminally ill. ^sThe prophet Isaiah ^tson of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, ^ufor you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ” ^v

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall ^wand prayed to the Lord, ³“Please Lord, remember ^xhow I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases You.” ^yzAnd Hezekiah wept bitterly. ^a

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 ^bof My people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; ^cI 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 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’ ” ^d

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

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign ^fthat 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 ^gto you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: Should the shadow go ahead 10 steps or go back 10 steps?”

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

Hezekiah’s Folly

¹²At that time ^kMerodach-baladan ^lson of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. ¹³Hezekiah gave them a hearing and showed them 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. ^m

¹⁴Then 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.”

¹⁵Isaiah 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.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ ⁿsays the Lord. ¹⁸‘Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, ^oand they will become eunuchs ^pin the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” ^q

¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” ^rfor he thought: Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?

Hezekiah’s Death

²⁰The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool ^sand the tunnel and brought water into the city, ^tare written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ^u21Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place. ^v