Hezekiah Is Sick and Recovers
4 Kingdoms 20, verse 1. In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Then Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 2. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 3. “O Lord, remember how I walked before You in truth, and with a full heart, and did what was good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept with a great wailing. 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 4. Thus while Isaiah was in the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 5. “Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you, and on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 6. And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.”’” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 7. Then Isaiah said, “Let them take a cake of figs and rest it on the boil, and he will recover.” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 8. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that on the third day I shall go up to the house of the Lord?” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 9. And Isaiah said, “This is the sign from the Lord that the Lord shall do what He said. Either the shadow of the sundial will move forward ten degrees, or should it go backward ten degrees?” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 10. Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow on the dial to move forward ten degrees. Therefore, let the shadow return and go backward ten degrees.” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 11. So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and the shadow on the dial went backward ten degrees.
Ambassadors from Babylon
4 Kingdoms 20, verse 12. At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah because he heard Hezekiah was sick. 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 13. So Hezekiah rejoiced in them and showed to these messengers all the house of his treasures—the silver and the gold, the spices and good olive oil, even the house of his vessels—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 14. Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 15. He said, “What did they see in your house?” So he answered, “They saw everything in my house. There was nothing in my house I did not show them, even what is in my treasuries.” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 16. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord, 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 17. ‘Behold, the days are coming when everything in your house, and what your fathers accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 18. ‘And as for your descendants, your sons, Babylon shall take them, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 19. So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Good is the word of the Lord which He spoke. Let there be peace in my days.”
King Hezekiah Dies
4 Kingdoms 20, verse 20. Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, all his might, and how he made a reservoir and an aqueduct, and how he brought water into the city, are these things not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 4 Kingdoms 20, verse 21. So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. And he was buried in the city of David. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.