2 KingsChapter 20
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1In those days Hezekiah got sick, and he was about to die. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him. He said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Get everything in your house ready. You are going to die. You will not get well.'" 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall. He prayed to the LORD, 3"Please, O LORD, remember how I have lived faithfully before you. I have served you with all my heart. I have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah cried very hard. 4Isaiah had not yet left the middle courtyard when the word of the LORD came to him. The LORD said, 5"Go back and speak to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him this is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: 'I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you. Three days from now you will go up to the house of the LORD. 6I will add 15 years to your life. I will save you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will guard this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.'" 7Then Isaiah said, "Make a paste out of figs." So they brought it and put it on Hezekiah's boil. And he got well. 8Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me? How will I know that I will go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?" 9Isaiah had answered, "Here is the sign from the LORD that he will do what he promised. Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?" 10"It's easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps," Hezekiah answered. "But it's not easy for it to go back ten steps." 11So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD. And the LORD made the shadow go back ten steps. It went back down the stairway of Ahaz the same ten steps it had already gone. 12At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. So he sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah. 13Hezekiah welcomed the messengers. He showed them everything in his treasure house. He showed them the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oil. He showed them his armory and everything in his storerooms. There was nothing in his palace or in his whole kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. 14Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah. He asked, "Where did those men come from? What did they say to you?" "They came from a land far away," Hezekiah answered. "They came from Babylon." 15"What have they seen in your palace?" Isaiah asked. "They have seen everything in my palace," Hezekiah answered. "There is nothing among my treasures that I didn't show them." 16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to the word of the LORD. 17The time will surely come when everything in your palace will be carried off to Babylon. Everything your ancestors have saved up until today will be taken. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 18Some of your descendants, your very own children, will be taken away. They will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." 19Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good." He was thinking, "At least there will be peace and safety while I am alive." 20The rest of what Hezekiah did is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. It tells about all his power. It tells how he built the pool and the tunnel that brought water into the city. 21Hezekiah died and joined his ancestors. His son Manasseh became king in his place.