2 Kings 20

1 About this time Hezekiah fell very sick and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your affairs in order, because you are going to die. You won't recover.”

In those days, Hezekiah was sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came and said to him: “Thus says the Lord God: Instruct your house, for you will die, and not live.”

2 When Hezekiah heard this, he went to pray privately to the Lord, saying

And he turned his face to the wall, and he prayed to the Lord, saying:

3 “Please remember Lord how I have followed you faithfully with all my heart. I have done what is good in your sight.” Then Hezekiah cried and cried.

“I beg you, O Lord, I beseech you, remember how I have walked before you in truth, and with a perfect heart, and how I have done what is pleasing before you.” And then Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the Lord spoke to him, saying,

And before Isaiah departed from the middle part of the atrium, the word of the Lord came to him, saying:

5 “Go back in and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, This is what the Lord, the God of your forefather David, says: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Look! I am going to heal you. In three days time you will go to the Lord's Temple.

“Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. And behold, I have healed you. On the third day, you shall ascend to the temple of the Lord.

6 I will add fifteen years to your life. I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

And I will add fifteen years to your days. Then too, I will free you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians. And I will protect this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.”

7 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a dressing from figs.” Hezekiah's servants did so and put it on the skin sores, and Hezekiah got better.

And Isaiah said, “Bring me a mass of figs.” And when they had brought it, and they had placed it on his sore, he was healed.

8 Hezekiah had previously asked Isaiah, “What is the sign to confirm that the Lord is going heal me and that I will go to the Lord's Temple in three days time?”

But Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will ascend to the temple of the Lord on the third day?”

9 Isaiah replied, “This is the sign from the Lord to you that the Lord will do what he promised: Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

And Isaiah said to him: “This will be the sign from the Lord, that the Lord will do the word that he has spoken: Do you wish that the shadow may ascend ten lines, or that it may turn back for the same number of degrees?”

10 “It's easy enough for the shadow to go forward ten steps, but not to go back ten steps,” Hezekiah answered.

And Hezekiah said: “It is easy for the shadow to increase for ten lines. And so I do not wish that this be done. Instead, let it turn back for ten degrees.”

11 So Isaiah the prophet asked the Lord, and he moved the shadow back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

And so the prophet Isaiah called upon the Lord. And he led back the shadow, along the lines by which it had already descended on the sundial of Ahaz, in reverse for ten degrees.

12 At the same time Merodach-baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah was sick.

At that time, Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of the Babylonians, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah. For he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.

13 Hezekiah welcomed the visitors and showed them everything in his treasury—all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the expensive oils. He also showed them his armory and all that he had in his storehouses. In fact there wasn't anything in his palace or in the whole of his kingdom that Hezekiah didn't show them.

Now Hezekiah rejoiced at their arrival, and so he revealed to them the house of aromatic spices, and the gold and silver, and the various pigments and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all that he was able to have in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions, that Hezekiah did not show to them.

14 Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did those men come from, and what did they tell you?” “They came from a long way away, from Babylon,” Hezekiah replied.

Then the prophet Isaiah came to king Hezekiah, and said to him: “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said to him, “They came to me from Babylon, from a far away land.”

15 “What did they see in your palace?” Isaiah asked. “They saw everything in my palace,” replied Hezekiah. “There wasn't anything in all my storehouses I didn't show them.”

And he responded, “What did they see in your house?” And Hezekiah said: “They saw all things whatsoever that are in my house. There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show to them.”

16 Isaiah told Hezekiah, “Listen to what the Lord says:

And so Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Listen to the word of the Lord.

17 You can be certain that the time is coming when everything in your palace, and everything that your forefathers have saved up until now, will be taken away to Babylon. There will be nothing left, says the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have stored up even to this day, will be carried away to Babylon. Nothing at all shall remain, says the Lord.

18 Some of your sons, your own offspring, will be taken to serve as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Then too, they will take from your sons, who will go forth from you, whom you will conceive. And they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The message from the Lord that you have told me is fine.” For he said to himself, “Why not, if there'll be peace and safety in my lifetime.”

Hezekiah said to Isaiah: “The word of the Lord, which you have spoken, is good. Let peace and truth be in my days.”

20 The rest of what happened in Hezekiah's reign, all he did, and how he made the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city, are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

Now the rest of the words of Hezekiah, and all his strength, and how he made a pool, and an aqueduct, and how he brought waters into the city, have these not been written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

21 Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers. And Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place.