2 Kings 20:1-9

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?"

2 Kings 20:1-9 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