2 Kings 20

20 ¹In those days Hezekiah became sick and was near death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came, saying, "This is what our Father says: Set your house in order; you will die, not live."

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to our Father: ³"Father, remember how I have walked before you faithfully, with a whole heart, doing what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of our Father came to him:

⁵"Go back and tell Hezekiah, leader of my people: Your Father, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. On the third day you will go up to my house. ⁶I'll add fifteen years to your life, rescue you and this city from the grip of Assyria's king, and defend this city for my sake and my servant David's."

⁷Isaiah said, "Bring a fig cake." They brought it, put it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah asked Isaiah, "What is the sign that our Father will heal me and I'll go up to our Father's house on the third day?"

⁹Isaiah said, "This is your sign from our Father that our Father will keep his promise: will the shadow go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?"

¹⁰Hezekiah replied, "It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps; no, let it go back ten steps."

¹¹So the prophet Isaiah called to our Father, and he brought the shadow back the ten steps it had gone down on Ahaz's stairway.

Hezekiah Welcomes the Envoys of Babylon

¹²At that time Berodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, hearing he had been sick. ¹³Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them his whole treasure house: silver, gold, spices, fine oil, his entire armory, everything in his storerooms. There was nothing in his palace or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked, "What did these men say, and where did they come from?" "From a distant land, Babylon," said Hezekiah.

¹⁵What did they see in your palace?" Isaiah asked. "Everything in my palace," Hezekiah replied. "Nothing in my treasures I didn't show them."

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of our Father:

¹⁷Days are coming when everything in your palace, all your ancestors stored up until now, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says our Father. ¹⁸Some of your own sons, your descendants, will be taken to serve as eunuchs in the palace of Babylon's king."

¹⁹"The word of our Father you spoke is good," Hezekiah said, thinking, "Will there not be peace and security in my days?"

²⁰Hezekiah's remaining deeds, all his might, and how he made the pool and tunnel to bring water into the city—are they not in the annals of Judah's kings? ²¹Then Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.