Hezekiah’s illness
1In those days Hezekiah fell mortally ill and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, went to him with a message from Yahweh, “Put your house in order for you shall die; you shall not live.”
2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, 3“Ah, Yahweh! Remember how I have walked before you in truth and wholeheartedly, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Isaiah had still not reached the central courtyard when the word of Yahweh came to him, 5“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, what Yahweh, the God of his father David, says: “I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. And now I will cure you. On the third day you will go up to the house of Yahweh. 6See! I am adding fifteen years to your life and I will save you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will defend it for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
7Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me and that I shall go up to the House of Yahweh within three days?” 8Isaiah answered, “This shall be the sign for you in Yahweh’s name, that Yahweh shall do what he has said: Do you wish the shadow of the second story to go forward ten steps or to go back?” 9Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but it shall be wonderful if the shadow goes back ten steps.” 10The prophet Isaiah called on Yahweh, and Yahweh made the shadow go back ten steps, line by line, on the ten steps it had covered on the stairway.
11Isaiah then said, “Bring a fig cake to rub on the ulcer and let Hezekiah be cured!”
12At that time Merodach-baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah after hearing that he was recovering from an illness. 13Hezekiah rejoiced, so he showed the envoys his treasure house – the silver, the gold, the spices, the fragrant oils, his weapons and all that was in the treasury. There was nothing in this palace, or in all he possessed that Hezekiah did not show.
14Then the prophet Isaiah went to the king and said, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?” The king answered, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” 15Isaiah said, “And what have they seen in your house?” The king answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them.”
16So Isaiah said to the king, “Listen to this word of Yahweh: 17The days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have stored up to this day shall be taken to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says Yahweh. 18Some of your own sons who are born of your blood shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19Hezekiah answered Isaiah, “What you say is a good word from Yahweh”; for he thought, “What does it matter just so I have peace and security in my own lifetime?”
20Now the rest regarding Hezekiah and all about his bravery, how he built the great reservoir and how it supplied water to the city is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. 21When Hezekiah slept with his fathers, his son Manasseh reigned in his place.
