2 Kings 20
1 About that time, Hezekiah became very ill. [He thought that he] was about to die. Isaiah the prophet came to him and said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You should tell the people in your palace what you want them to do after you die, because you are not going to recover from this illness. You are going to die.’”
In those days Hezekiah has been sick to death, and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet comes to him and says to him, “Thus said YHWH: Give a charge to your house, for you are dying, and do not live.”
2 Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed,
And he turns around his face to the wall, and prays to YHWH, saying,
3 “Yahweh, do not forget that I have always served you faithfully, and I have done things that pleased you.” Then Hezekiah started to cry loudly.
“Ah, now, O YHWH, please remember how I have habitually walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and I have done that which [is] good in Your eyes”; and Hezekiah weeps [with] a great weeping.
4 Isaiah left the king, but before he had crossed the middle courtyard of the palace, Yahweh gave him a message
And it comes to pass, [when] Isaiah has not [yet] gone out to the middle court, that the word of YHWH has been to him, saying,
5 which said, “Go back to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, and say to him, ‘I, Yahweh, the God whom your ancestor King David [worshiped], have heard what you prayed. And I have seen your tears. So, listen: I will heal you. Two days from now you will [be able to] go up to my temple.
“Return, and you have said to Hezekiah, leader of My people, Thus said YHWH, God of your father David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tear, behold, I give healing to you. On the third day you go up to the house of YHWH;
6 I will enable you to live for 15 more years. And I will rescue you and this city again from the power [MTY] of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised King David, who served me [well].’”
and I have added fifteen years to your days, and I deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Asshur, and have covered over this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.”
7 So Isaiah [returned to the palace and told Hezekiah what Yahweh had said. Then he] [to Hezekiah’s servants], “Bring a paste made of boiled figs. Put some of it on his boil, and he will get well.”
And Isaiah says, “Take a cake of figs”; and they take and lay [it] on the boil, and he revives.
8 Then Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, “What will Yahweh do to prove that he will heal me and that two days from now I will be able to go up to the temple?”
And Hezekiah says to Isaiah, “What [is] the sign that YHWH gives healing to me, that I have gone up to the house of YHWH on the third day?”
9 Isaiah replied, “Yahweh will do something that will prove to you that he will do what he promised. Do you want him to cause the shadow on the stairway/sundial to go back ten steps/degrees, or to go forward ten steps/degrees?”
And Isaiah says, “This [is] the sign to you from YHWH, that YHWH does the thing that He has spoken—[will] the shadow have gone on ten degrees, or does it turn back ten degrees?”
10 Hezekiah replied, “It is easy to cause the shadow to move forward, [because that is what it always does]. Tell him to cause it to move backward ten steps/degrees.”
And Hezekiah says, “It has been light for the shadow to incline ten degrees; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten degrees.”
11 So Isaiah prayed earnestly to Yahweh, and Yahweh caused the shadow to go backward ten steps/degrees on the stairway/sundial that King Ahaz had made (OR, that workers had built for King Ahaz).
And Isaiah the prophet calls to YHWH, and He brings back the shadow by the degrees that it had gone down in the degrees of Ahaz—backward ten degrees.
12 At that time, King Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan the [previous] King of Babylonia, heard a report that King Hezekiah had been very sick. So he wrote some letters and gave them to some messengers to take to Hezekiah, along with a gift.
At that time Berodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, has sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick;
13 [When the messengers arrived], Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. Then he showed them everything that was in his (treasure houses/places where very valuable things were stored)—the silver and gold, the spices, the nice-smelling olive oil, and all the weapons [for his soldiers]. He showed them all the [valuable] things in his storerooms and everywhere else in his kingdom [HYP]; he showed them everything.
and Hezekiah listens to them, and shows them all the house of his treasury, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the good ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and all that has been found in his treasuries; there has not been a thing that Hezekiah has not showed them in his house and in all his dominion.
14 Then the prophet Isaiah went to Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from a country very far from here. They came from Babylonia.”
And Isaiah the prophet comes to King Hezekiah and says to him, “What did these men say? And from where do they come to you?” And Hezekiah says, “They have come from a far-off land—from Babylon.”
15 Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They saw everything. I showed them absolutely everything that I own—all my valuable things.”
And he says, “What did they see in your house?” And Hezekiah says, “They saw all that [is] in my house; there has not been a thing that I have not showed them among my treasures.”
16 [Isaiah knew that Hezekiah had done a very foolish thing]. So Isaiah said to him, “Listen to what Yahweh says to you.
And Isaiah says to Hezekiah, “Hear a word of YHWH:
17 There will be a time when everything that is still in your palace, all the valuable things that were put there by you and your ancestors, will be carried away to Babylon. There will be nothing left here! [That is what] Yahweh says [to you]
Behold, days are coming, and all that [is] in your house, and [all] that your father has treasured up until this day, has been carried to Babylon; there is not a thing left, said YHWH;
18 Furthermore, some of your own descendants will be forced to go there, and they will be castrated in order that they may become servants in the palace of the King of Babylon.”
and of your sons who go out from you, whom you beget, they take away, and they have been eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19 Then Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, “That message from Yahweh that you have given to me is good.” He said that because he was thinking, “Even if that happens, there will be peace and security [in Israel] all the rest of my life.”
And Hezekiah says to Isaiah, “The word of YHWH that you have spoken [is] good”; and he says, “Why not, if there is peace and truth in my days?”
20 [If you want to know more about] [RHQ] all the other things that Hezekiah did, about his brave deeds in battle, about his ordering a reservoir to be built in the city and a tunnel [to be dug] to bring water into the reservoir, they are all written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.
And the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brings in the waters to the city, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
21 Later Hezekiah died [EUP], and his son Manasseh became the king.
And Hezekiah lies with his fathers, and his son Manasseh reigns in his stead.
