2 Kings 20:1–11

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

^1aIn those days Hezekiah became ¹mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘^bSet your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”

²Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,

³“^aRemember now, O Lord, I beseech You, ^bhow I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And ^cHezekiah wept ¹bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

⁵“Return and say to ^aHezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “^bI have heard your prayer, ^cI have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

⁶“I will add fifteen years to your ¹life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^aI will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” ’ ”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?”

⁹Isaiah said, “^aThis shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰So Hezekiah ¹answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.”

¹¹Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and ^aHe brought the shadow on the ¹stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.