Hezekiah’s Life Extended(A)

20 In (B)those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And 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.’ ”

Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, (C)“Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Return and tell Hezekiah (D)the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: (E)“I have heard your prayer, I have seen (F)your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and (G)I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

Then (H)Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, (I)“What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?”

Then Isaiah said, (J)“This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?”

10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten [a]degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

11 So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and (K)He brought the shadow ten [b]degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 20:10 Lit. steps
  2. 2 Kings 20:11 Lit. steps

This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10 I said,
“In the prime of my life
I shall go to the gates of Sheol;
I am deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11 I said,
“I shall not see [a]Yah,
The Lord (A)in the land of the living;
I shall observe man no more [b]among the inhabitants of [c]the world.
12 (B)My life span is gone,
Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent;
I have cut off my life like a weaver.
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 I have considered until morning—
Like a lion,
So He breaks all my bones;
From day until night You make an end of me.
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered;
(C)I mourned like a dove;
My eyes fail from looking upward.
O [d]Lord, I am oppressed;
[e]Undertake for me!

15 “What shall I say?
[f]He has both spoken to me,
And He Himself has done it.
I shall walk carefully all my years
(D)In the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live;
And in all these things is the life of my spirit;
So You will restore me and make me live.
17 Indeed it was for my own peace
That I had great bitterness;
But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 For (E)Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You,
As I do this day;
(F)The father shall make known Your truth to the children.

20 “The Lord was ready to save me;
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments
All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 38:11 Heb. Yah, Yah
  2. Isaiah 38:11 LXX omits among the inhabitants of the world
  3. Isaiah 38:11 So with some Heb. mss.; MT, Vg. rest; Tg. land
  4. Isaiah 38:14 So with Bg.; MT, DSS Lord
  5. Isaiah 38:14 Be my surety
  6. Isaiah 38:15 So with MT, Vg.; DSS, Tg. And shall I say to Him; LXX omits first half of this verse

Hezekiah’s Wealth and Honor(A)

27 Hezekiah had very great riches and honor. And he made himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of desirable items; 28 storehouses for the harvest of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of livestock, and [a]folds for flocks. 29 Moreover he provided cities for himself, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for (B)God had given him very much property. 30 (C)This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and [b]brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah (D)prospered in all his works.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 32:28 So with LXX, Vg.; Arab., Syr. omit folds for flocks; MT flocks for sheepfolds
  2. 2 Chronicles 32:30 Lit. brought it straight to (cf. 2 Kin. 20:20)

25 But Hezekiah (A)did not repay according to the favor shown him, for (B)his heart was lifted up; (C)therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem.

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The Babylonian Envoys(A)

12 (B)At that time [a]Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 20:12 Merodach-Baladan, Is. 39:1

31 However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they (A)sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to (B)test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

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13 And (A)Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and [a]all [b]his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

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.”

15 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”

So Hezekiah answered, (B)“They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, (C)shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. 18 ‘And (D)they shall take away some of your sons who will [c]descend from you, whom you will beget; (E)and they shall be (F)eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

19 So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, (G)“The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?”

Death of Hezekiah(H)

20 (I)Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he (J)made a (K)pool and a [d]tunnel and (L)brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 20:13 So with many Heb. mss., Syr., Tg.; MT omits all
  2. 2 Kings 20:13 Lit. the house of his armor
  3. 2 Kings 20:18 be born from
  4. 2 Kings 20:20 aqueduct

26 (A)Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them (B)in the days of Hezekiah.

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Manasseh Reigns in Judah(A)

21 Manasseh (B)was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

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