2 *Kings 20

₁King Hezekiah became very sick. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him and said: ‘You must tell your family what you want them to do because you are going to die. You will not get better.’ ₂Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and he prayed to the Lord. ₃He said: ‘O Lord, please remember how I have obeyed You with all my heart and how I have always done what You wanted.’ Hezekiah cried loudly.

₄Before Isaiah walked past the courtyard of the palace, the Lord talked to him and said: ₅‘You must turn_around and go back to Hezekiah, to the king of my people, and you must tell him: “I, the God of your forefather David, say: I have listened to your prayer and I have seen your tears. I will heal you. You will go to the temple again in 3 days' time. ₆I will give you another 15 years to live. I will save this city from the king of Assyria. I will protect this city for Myself and for my servant, David.” ’

₇Then Isaiah told the people to take a cake of figs and put it onto the king's wound, and then it would get better.

₈Hezekiah asked Isaiah how he would know that God would heal him so that he could go to the temple again on the 3rd day. ₉Isaiah said: ‘The Lord will do what He said and He will give you a sign: The sun is already low and the shadow on the steps shows that it is late in the afternoon. Must the Lord move the shadow to go 10 steps forward or must it go back 10 steps?’ ₁₀Hezekiah said: ‘It is easy for the shadow to go forward 10 steps. No, the shadow must go back 10 steps.’ ₁₁The prophet Isaiah prayed to the Lord and the Lord moved the shadow back 10 steps on the stairs of King Ahaz. That showed that the sun was high in the sky again.

₁₂The name of the king of Babylon was Marduk-Baladan, son of Baladan. They told him that King Hezekiah was sick. He sent messengers to Hezekiah with letters and gifts. ₁₃Hezekiah listened to the messengers and he showed them everything that he had in his store houses: the silver and gold, the balm and pure olive oil, all his weapons and the other things that he had. Hezekiah also showed the messengers everything in his palace and the other things they had in the land.

₁₄The prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked the king: ‘What did those men say? What land did they come from?’ Hezekiah said: ‘They came from a land far from here, from Babylon.’ ₁₅Isaiah asked him: ‘What did they see in your palace?’ Hezekiah said: ‘They saw everything in my palace and I showed them everything in my store houses.’

₁₆Isaiah said to Hezekiah: ‘Listen to what the Lord says: ₁₇“The time will come when the soldiers from Babylon will come and take everything in your palace, everything that your forefathers and you have stored. They will leave nothing behind.” This is what the Lord says. ₁₈And they will take some of your sons to work for the king of Babylon at his palace.’ ₁₉Hezekiah said to Isaiah: ‘I heard what you have said. What the Lord says is good.’ Hezekiah also said: ‘I hope there will be peace in my land and that we will be safe while I live.’

₂₀All the other important things that Hezekiah did are written in the book of the history of the kings_of_Judah. It is also written how he built the dam and the water channel to bring water into the city. ₂₁Hezekiah died and his son, Manasseh, became king after him.