Isaiah 38-39

International Standard Version

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

38 During that time,^[a] Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. Then Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet came to him and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die. You won’t recover.’”

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. ³ “Please, Lord,” he said, “Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you.”^[b] And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Then this message^[c] from the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David has to say: “I’ve heard your prayer and^[d] I’ve seen your tears; so I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ I’ll save you and this city from the^[e] king of Assyria, and I’ll defend this city, for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.^{[f] 7} This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will carry out this thing he has promised: ⁸ Watch! I will make the shadow on the steps of the upper^[g] dial of Ahaz that marks the sun go ten steps backwards.”’”

Then the sunlight turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had gone down.

Hezekiah’s Prayer

⁹ A composition by King Hezekiah of Judah, following his illness and recovery:

²¹ Now Isaiah had said, “Let them prepare^[af] a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

²² Hezekiah also had asked, “What will be the sign for me to go up to the Lord’s Temple?”^[ag]

The Visit by Merodach-baladan

39 At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, when^[ah] he heard he had been sick and had survived.^{[ai] 2} Hezekiah was delighted with them, and showed them everything in^[aj] his treasure-houses^[ak]—the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oils, his entire armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom^[al] that Hezekiah did not show them.

Isaiah Rebukes Hezekiah

³ Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “From a distant land—they came to me from Babylon.”

⁴ “What did they see in your palace?” he asked.

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah replied. “There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them.”

⁵ Then Isaiah told Hezekiah, “Listen to this message^[am] from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies: ⁶ ‘The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off^[an] to Babylon. They will come in, and^[ao] nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ⁷ ‘Then some of your own sons, who will come from your loins,^[ap] whom you will father, will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

⁸ “The message from the Lord that you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, since he was thinking, “…at least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”