Hezekiah's Illness
1
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death.
The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said,
"This is what the LORD says:
Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."
2
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
3
"Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and
with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your yees.
And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4
Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:
5
"Go back and tel Hezekiah, the leader of my people, This is what the LORD,
the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears;
I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go upto the temple of the LORD.
6
I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city
from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake
and for the sake of my servant David.' "
7
Then Isaiah said, "Prepare a poultice of figs."
They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.
8
Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What will be the sign that the LORD will heal
me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day from now?"
9
Isaiah answered, "This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will do what he
as promised: Shall the sadow go forward ten stops, or shall it go back ten steps?"
10
"It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps," said Hezekiah.
"Rather, have it go back ten steps."
11
Then the prophet Isaiah called upon the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow
go back ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
Envoys From Babylon
12
At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent
Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah's illness.
13
Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses
- the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil - his armory and everything found
among his treasures. There was nothing in his plalace or
in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14
Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked,
"What did those men say, and where did they come form?"
"From a distant land," Hezekiah replied. "They came from Babylon."
15
The prophet asked, "What did they see in your palace?"
"They saw everything in my palace" Hezekiah said.
"There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them."
16
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD:
17
The time will surely come when everything in your palace,
and all that your fathers have stored up until this day,
will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
18
And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood,
that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become enuchs
in the palce of the king of Babylon."
19
"The word of the LORD you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied.
For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security inmy lifetime?"
20
As for the other events of Hezekiah's reign, all his achievements and how
he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city,
are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
21
Hezekiah rested with his fathers. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.
