2 Kings 20

1In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what Yahweh says: Set your house in order, for you are going to die; you will not recover.”

2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh,

3“Please, Yahweh, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of Yahweh came to him:

5“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what Yahweh, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I am going to heal you. On the third day you will go up to the house of Yahweh.

6I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

7Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” They brought it and put it on the boil, and he recovered.

8Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me and that I will go up to the house of Yahweh on the third day?”

9Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from Yahweh that Yahweh will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go forward ten steps, or should it go back ten steps?”

10Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.”

11So the prophet Isaiah called out to Yahweh, and Yahweh brought the shadow back ten steps, back down the steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

12At that time Berodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

13Hezekiah welcomed the envoys and showed them his whole treasure house: the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

14Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come to you from?” Hezekiah answered, “They came from a distant land, from Babylon.”

15Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh.

17The days are coming when everything in your palace, and all that your ancestors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says Yahweh.

18And some of your own sons, who will be born to you, your own offspring, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

19Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh that you have spoken is good.” For he said, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my lifetime?”

20As for the rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, all his might, and how he made the pool and the tunnel and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

21Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.