1In those days Hezekiah became very ill. He was about to die. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him. Isaiah told Hezekiah, ‘The LORD says, “Put everything in order. Make out your will. You are going to die soon. You will not get well again.” ’2Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall. He prayed to the LORD. He said,3‘LORD, please remember how faithful I’ve been to you. I’ve lived the way you wanted me to. I’ve served you with all my heart. I’ve done what is good in your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.4Isaiah was leaving the middle courtyard. Before he had left it, a message came to him from the LORD. He said,5‘Go back and speak to Hezekiah. He is the ruler of my people. Tell him, “The LORD, the God of King David, says, ‘I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. And I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to my temple.6I will add 15 years to your life. And I will save you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will guard this city. I will do it for myself. And I will do it for my servant David.’ ” ’7Then Isaiah said, ‘Press some figs together. Spread them on a piece of cloth.’ So that’s what they did. Then they applied it to Hezekiah’s boil. And he got well again.8Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, ‘You say the LORD will heal me. You say that I’ll go up to his temple on the third day from now. What will the sign be to prove he’ll really do that?’9Isaiah answered, ‘The LORD will do what he has promised. Here is his sign to you. Do you want the shadow the sun makes to go forward ten steps? Or do you want it to go back ten steps?’10‘It’s easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps,’ said Hezekiah. ‘So let it go back ten steps.’11Then Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD. And the LORD made the shadow go back ten steps. It went back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway Ahaz had made.
Messengers come from Babylon to Hezekiah
12At that time Marduk-Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah letters and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been ill. Marduk-Baladan was the son of Baladan.13Hezekiah received the messengers. He showed them everything in his storerooms. He showed them the silver and gold. He showed them the spices and the fine olive oil. He showed them where he kept his weapons. And he showed them all his treasures. In fact, he showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.14Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah. He asked him, ‘What did those men say? Where did they come from?’ ‘They came from a land far away,’ Hezekiah said. ‘They came from Babylon.’15The prophet asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’ ‘They saw everything in my palace,’ Hezekiah said. ‘I showed them all my treasures.’16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Listen to the LORD’s message. He says,17“You can be sure the time will come when everything in your palace will be carried off to Babylon. Everything the kings before you have stored up until this day will be taken away. There will not be anything left,” says the LORD.18“Some of the members of your family line will be taken away. They will be your own flesh and blood. They will include the children who will be born into your family line in years to come. And they will serve the king of Babylon in his palace.” ’19‘The message the LORD has spoken through you is good,’ Hezekiah replied. He thought, ‘There will be peace and safety while I’m still living.’20The other events of the rule of Hezekiah are written down. That includes how he made the pool and the tunnel. He used them to bring water into Jerusalem. Everything he accomplished is written in the official records of the kings of Judah.21Hezekiah joined the members of his family who had already died. Hezekiah’s son Manasseh became the next king after him.
2 Kings 20
English Standard Version
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
1In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” (2Sa 17:23; 2Ch 32:24; Isa 38:1)2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,3“Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. (1Ki 8:61; 2Ki 18:3; Ne 5:19; Ne 13:14; Ne 13:22; Ne 13:31; Ps 39:12)4And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him:5“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, (1Sa 9:16; 1Sa 10:1; 2Ki 19:20; Ps 39:12; Ps 56:8; Ps 65:2)6and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” (2Ki 19:34)7And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”8And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?”9And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” (2Ki 19:29)10And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” (Ps 102:11)11And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz. (Jos 10:12)
Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys
12At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. (2Ch 32:31; Isa 39:1)13And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. (2Ch 32:27)14Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.”15He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:17Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. (2Ki 24:13; 2Ki 25:13; Jer 20:5; Jer 27:19)18And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (2Ki 24:12; 2Ch 33:11; Da 1:3)19Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?” (1Sa 3:18; 2Ch 32:25)20The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? (2Ki 18:17; 2Ch 32:30; 2Ch 32:32; Ne 2:14; Ne 3:16; Isa 22:9; Isa 22:11)21And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. (2Ch 32:33)