2 Kings 20:1-11

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

1 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill.^[a] The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, "This is what the Lord says: 'Put your affairs in order,^[b] for you are about to die; you will not recover.' "

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall^[c] and prayed to the Lord,

3 "Please Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him:

5 "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, 'This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day [from now] you will go up to the Lord's temple.

6 I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.' "

7 Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of pressed figs." So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.

8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord's temple on the third day?"^[d]

9 Isaiah said, "This is the sign to you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: Should the shadow go ahead 10 steps or go back 10 steps?"

10 Then Hezekiah answered, "It's easy for the shadow to lengthen 10 steps. No, let the shadow go back 10 steps."

11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow^[e] back the 10 steps it had descended on Ahaz's stairway.^[f][g]

2 Kings 20:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

In this chapter is an account of Hezekiah's sickness, and of the means of his recovery, and of the sign given of it, 2 Kings 20:1 of the king of Babylon's congratulatory letter to him upon it, when he showed to the messengers that brought it his treasures, in the pride and vanity of his heart, 2 Kings 20:12 for which he was reproved by the prophet Isaiah, and was humbled, and submitted to the sentence pronounced on his house, 2 Kings 20:14, and the chapter is concluded with his reign and death, 2 Kings 20:20.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Ch 32:24
• [b]. Lit Command your house
• [c]. 1 Kg 21:4
• [d]. Isa 38:21-22
• [e]. Lit shadow on the steps
• [f]. Tg, Vg, Isa 38:8 DSS read on the steps of Ahaz's roof chamber
• [g]. Isa 38:1-8