2 Kings 20:1–11

Hezekiah’s Illness

20:1–11pp—2Ch 32:24–26; Isa 38:1–8

20In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

²Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³“Remember,^d Lord, how I have walked^e before you faithfully^f and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard^g your prayer and seen your tears;^h I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. ⁶I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defendⁱ this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil,^j and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord on the third day from now?”

⁹Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign^k to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

¹⁰“It is a simple^l matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

¹¹Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back^m the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.