2 Kings 20:12-21

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

12 ¹At that time Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

13 Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them ²all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing * in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon."

15 He said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing * among my treasuries that I have not shown them."

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD.

17 'Behold, the days are coming when ³all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing * shall be left,' says the LORD.

18 'Some ⁴of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away; and they will become ⁵officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.' "

19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is ⁶good." For he thought, "Is it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my days?"

20 ⁷Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he ⁸made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles * of the Kings of Judah?

21 ⁹So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

2 Kings 20:12-21 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.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Chronicles 32:31; Isaiah 39:1-8
• 2. 2 Chronicles 32:27
• 3. 2 Kings 24:13; 2 Kings 25:13-15; 2 Chronicles 36:10; Jeremiah 52:17-19
• 4. 2 Kings 24:12; 2 Chronicles 33:11
• 5. Daniel 1:3-7
• 6. 1 Samuel 3:18
• 7. 2 Chronicles 32:32
• 8. Nehemiah 3:16
• 9. 2 Chronicles 32:33

Footnotes

• [a]. Many mss and ancient versions read "Merodach-baladan;" cf Is 39:1
• [b]. Lit "said"
• [c]. Lit "said"