2 Kings 20:8-11

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 20:8-11 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]. stairway . . . steps . . . steps . . . ; [or] sundial . . . degrees . . . degrees.
• [b]. steps; [or] degrees.
• [c]. steps; [or] degrees.
• [d]. steps; [or] degrees.
• [e]. stairway; [or] sundial. [Archaeological evidence suggests that the stairway referred to in this passage was one specially constructed to tell time.]