2 Kings 20:4-14

4 And before that Isaiah went out half the part of the court(yard), the word of the Lord was made to Isaiah, and said,
5 Turn thou again, and say to Hezekiah, the duke of my people (Return thou, and say to Hezekiah, the leader, or the ruler, of my people), The Lord, (the) God of David, thy father, saith these things, I have heard thy prayer, and I saw thy tears, and lo! I have healed thee. In the third day thou shalt go up into the temple of the Lord,
6 and I shall add fifteen years to thy days; but also I shall deliver thee and this city from the hand of the king of Assyrians, and I shall defend this city for me, and for David, my servant (and I shall defend this city for my sake, and for the sake of my servant David).
7 And Isaiah said, Bring ye to me a gobbet of figs. And when they had brought it, and had put (it) on his botch/and had put it on the botch of Hezekiah, he was healed.
8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign, that the Lord shall heal me, and also that in the third day I shall go up into the temple of the Lord?
9 To whom Isaiah said, This shall be a sign of the Lord, that the Lord shall do the word which he spake; wilt thou, that the shadow (of the sun) go further by ten lines, either turn again by so many degrees? (To whom Isaiah said, This shall be the sign from the Lord, that the Lord shall do the thing which he spoke; wilt thou, that the sun's shadow go forward by ten degrees, or turn back by as many degrees?)
10 And Hezekiah said, It is light, or easy, that the shadow increase by ten lines, neither I will that this be done, but that it turn again backward by ten degrees. (And Hezekiah said, It is easy for the shadow to increase by ten degrees, so I do not desire that this be done, but rather, that it go backward by ten degrees.)
11 Then Isaiah, the prophet, called inwardly (upon) the Lord, and brought again backward by ten degrees the shadow by the same lines, by which it had gone down then in the horologe of Ahaz. (Then the prophet Isaiah inwardly called to the Lord, and brought the shadow backward by ten degrees, by the same lines by which it had gone forward on Ahaz's sundial.)
12 In that time, Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and had recovered. (Now at that time, Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.)
13 And Hezekiah was glad in the coming of them (And Hezekiah welcomed the messengers), and he showed to them the house of spiceries, and (the) gold, and silver, and diverse pigments, (and) also (the) ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all (the) things that he might have in his treasures; there was not any word, or thing, in his house, and in all his power, that Hezekiah showed not to them.
14 Soothly Isaiah, the prophet, came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men, either from whence came they to thee? To whom Hezekiah said, They came to me from a far land, from Babylon. (And the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say to thee, and from where did they come? To whom Hezekiah said, They came to me from a far land, from Babylon.)

2 Kings 20:4-14 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.