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 to him and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Set thy house in order; for thou shalt 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 prayed to Jehovah 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.

Ah! Jehovah, remember, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept much.

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

And it came to pass before Isaiah had gone out into the middle city that the word of Jehovah 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 captain of my people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of Jehovah;

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 to thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

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, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

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?”

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What [shall be] the sign that Jehovah will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah 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, This [shall be] the sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten 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 a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: no, but let the shadow return backward 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 Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah, and he brought the shadow back on the degrees by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.

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 Berodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

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.

And Hezekiah hearkened to them, and shewed them all his treasure-house, the silver and the gold, and the spices and the fine oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found among his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not shew 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 came the prophet Isaiah to king Hezekiah and said to him, What said these men? and from whence came they to thee? And Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, from Babylon.

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 said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah said, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewn them.

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

And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah:

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, days come that all that is in thy house, and what thy fathers have laid up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah.

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

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be chamberlains 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.”

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not so? if only there shall be peace and truth 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.

And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the aqueduct, and brought the water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles 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 stead.