2 Kings 20:1-11

1 About this time King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and said to him, "The Lord tells you that you are to put everything in order, because you will not recover. Get ready to die."

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed:

3 "Remember, Lord, that I have served you faithfully and loyally and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to." And he began to cry bitterly.

4 Isaiah left the king, but before he had passed through the central courtyard of the palace the Lord told him

5 to go back to Hezekiah, ruler of the Lord's people, and say to him, "I, the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and in three days you will go to the Temple.

6 I will let you live fifteen years longer. I will rescue you and this city Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria. I will defend this city, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David."

7 Then Isaiah told the king's attendants to put on his boil a paste made of figs, and he would get well.

8 King Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign to prove that the Lord will heal me and that three days later I will be able to go to the Temple?"

9 Isaiah replied, "The Lord will give you a sign to prove that he will keep his promise. Now, would you prefer to have the shadow on the stairway go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?"

10 Hezekiah answered, "It's easy to have the shadow go forward ten steps! Have it go back ten steps."

11 Isaiah prayed to the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway set up by King Ahaz.

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]. [One ancient translation (and see Is 38.21)] figs, and he would get well; [Hebrew] figs. They did so, and he got well.
• [b]. stairway . . . steps . . . steps . . . ; [or] sundial . . . degrees . . . degrees.
• [c]. steps; [or] degrees.
• [d]. steps; [or] degrees.
• [e]. steps; [or] degrees.
• [f]. stairway; [or] sundial. [Archaeological evidence suggests that the stairway referred to in this passage was one specially constructed to tell time.]