2 Kings 20–21

Hezekiah Loses Health and Regains It through Prayer

20In those days Hezekiah became deathly ill,^a and Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Command your house, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ” ²Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, saying, ³“O Yahweh, please remember how I went about before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and remember the good that I have done in your eyes.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.^{b 4}Isaiah had not gone out from the middle of the city when the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ⁵“Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor,^c “I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I am about to heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the temple of Yahweh. ⁶I will add to your days fifteen years, and from the hand of the king of Assyria I will deliver you and this city. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.” ’ ” ⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs,” so they took and put it on the skin sores, and he lived.

⁸Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that Yahweh will heal me that I shall go up on the third day to the temple of Yahweh?” ⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign for you from Yahweh that Yahweh will do the thing that he has promised: Shall the shadow advance ten steps or shall it return ten steps?” ¹⁰Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backwards ten steps.” ¹¹Isaiah the prophet called to Yahweh, and he brought back the shadow on the steps where it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, backwards ten steps.

Hezekiah Reveals Too Much to a Babylonian Envoy

¹²At that time, Berodak-Baladan the son of Baladan king of Babylon^d sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill. ¹³Hezekiah heard about them and showed them all of the house of his treasure, both the silver and the gold, the spices, the good olive oil, the room of his weapons, and all that could be found in his treasuries. There was nothing that he did not show them in his palace and in all of his kingdom. ¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “From a far land; they have come from Babylon.” ¹⁵Then he asked, “What did they see in your palace?” And Hezekiah said, “All that is in my palace they have seen; there is nothing that I did not show them in my treasuries.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh! ¹⁷‘Look, days are coming when all that is in your palace will be carried off; even all that your ancestors^e have stored up until this day, to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says Yahweh. ¹⁸‘Your sons who went out from you, whom you brought forth, will be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the temple of the king of Babylon.’ ” ¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh that you have spoken is good,” and he thought, “Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?” ²⁰Now the remainder of the acts of Hezekiah, all of his powerful deeds, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²¹Then Hezekiah slept with his ancestors,^f and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Evil Manasseh Reigns after Godly Hezekiah

21Manasseh was twelve years old^a when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hephzibah. ²He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the Israelites.^{b 3}He returned and rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them. ⁴He built altars in the temple of Yahweh about which Yahweh had said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.” ⁵He built an altar to all of the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh. ⁶He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He increased the doing of evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. ⁷He put the image of the Asherah that he had made in the temple of which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ⁸I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I have given to their ancestors,^c if they only observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, as far as the law that Moses my servant commanded them.” ⁹But Manasseh did not listen and tempted them to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the presence of the Israelites.^d

Yahweh Sends a Rebuke to Manasseh

¹⁰So Yahweh spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹“Because Manasseh the king of Judah committed these detestable things and did evil more than the Amorites did who were before him and caused even Judah to sin with his idols, ¹²therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle. ¹³I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face. ¹⁴I will give up the remainder of my inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies. They shall become as prey and as spoil for all their enemies, ¹⁵because they have done evil in my eyes and were provoking me from the day that their ancestors^e came out from Egypt up to this day.’ ”

¹⁶Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he filled Jerusalem from one end to another,^f apart from his sin which he caused Judah to sin by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ¹⁷The remainder of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin that he committed, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸Then Manasseh slept with his ancestors^g and was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah Only Two Years

¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old^h when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. ²⁰He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹He walked in all of the way that his father had walked, and he served the idols that his father had served and bowed down to them. ²²He abandoned Yahweh the God of his ancestorsⁱ and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. ²³The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. ²⁴But the people of the land killed all who conspired against the king and made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵The remainder of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁶They buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in place of him.