2 Kings 20:8

8 Hizkiyahu said to Yesha'yahu, "What sign will there be that ADONAI will heal me and that I will be able to go up to the house of ADONAI on the third day?"

2 Kings 20:8 Meaning and Commentary

And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah,.... Or "had said," {w} before the plaster of figs was directed to, or, however, laid on, and as soon as he was told he should be healed:

what shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? not that he disbelieved the promise of God, or doubted of a cure, but this he requested for the confirmation of his faith; which good men sometimes asked, when they doubted not, as Gideon; and Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, was bid to ask a sign for the like purpose, and it was resented in him that he did not, see Judges 6:17.

{w} rmayw "dixerat autem," V. L. Vatablus.

2 Kings 20:8 In-Context

6 I will add fifteen years to your life. Also I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Ashur; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.'"

7 Then Yesha'yahu said, "Prepare a fig-plaster." They brought it and laid it on the inflammation, so that he would recover.

8 Hizkiyahu said to Yesha'yahu, "What sign will there be that ADONAI will heal me and that I will be able to go up to the house of ADONAI on the third day?"

9 Yesha'yahu said, "Here is the sign for you from ADONAI that ADONAI will do what he said: do you want the shadow [of the sundial] to go forward ten intervals or backward ten intervals?

10 Hizkiyahu answered, "It's easy for the shadow to go down ten intervals. No, let the shadow return backward ten intervals."