Font Size
2 Kings 20:10-12
New English Translation
2 Kings 20:10-12
New English Translation
10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for it[a] to go back ten steps.” 11 Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and the Lord[b] made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.[c]
Messengers from Babylon Visit Hezekiah
12 At that time Merodach Baladan[d] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent messengers with letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Kings 20:10 tn Heb “the shadow.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- 2 Kings 20:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 2 Kings 20:11 tn Heb “made the shadow return, on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, back ten steps.” sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.
- 2 Kings 20:12 tc The MT has “Berodach-Baladan,” but several Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses agree with the parallel passage in Isa 39:1 and read “Merodach Baladan.”
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.