Hezekiah’s illness

20 Around that same time, Hezekiah became deathly ill. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your affairs in order because you are about to die. You won’t survive this.”

² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you in truth and sincerity. I have done what is right in your eyes.” Then Hezekiah cried and cried.

⁴ Isaiah hadn’t even left the middle courtyard of the palace when the Lord’s word came to him: ⁵ Turn around. Say to Hezekiah, my people’s leader: This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and have seen your tears. So now I’m going to heal you. Three days from now you will be able to 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 power of the Assyian king. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a bandage made of figs.” They did so and put it on the swelling, at which point Hezekiah started getting better.

⁸ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I’ll be able to go up to the Lord’s temple in three days?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This will be your sign from the Lord that he will make his promise come true: Should the shadow go forward ten steps or back ten steps?”

¹⁰ “It’s easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” Hezekiah said, “but not for the shadow to go back ten steps.” ¹¹ So the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, who made the shadow go back ten steps, down the flight of stairs built by Ahaz.^[a]