2 Kings 20:1-11

Christian Standard Bible

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20 In those days^(A) Hezekiah became terminally ill.^(B) The prophet Isaiah^(C) son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”^(D)

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall^(E) and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Please, Lord, remember^(F) how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.”^[a](G) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.^(H)

⁴ Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader^(I) of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;^(J) I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”^(K)

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.^(L)

⁸ Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign^(M) that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This is the sign^(N) to you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰ Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ So the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow^[b] back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.^[c](O)