Hezekiah’s Folly

¹² At that time^(A) Merodach-baladan^[a] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.^(B)

¹⁴ Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’^(C) says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away,^(D) and they will become eunuchs^[b] in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”^(E)

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,”^(F) for he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?”