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Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery
About that time Hezekiah became
deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son
of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this
message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your
affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will
not recover from this illness.”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his
face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly,
always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke
down and wept bitterly.
4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard,* this message came to him from the Lord:
5 “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people.
Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your
ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer
and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three
days from now you will get out of bed and go
to the Temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen
years to your life, and I will rescue you and this
city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this
city for my own honor and for the sake of my
servant David.’”
7 Then Isaiah said, “Make an ointment from
figs.” So Hezekiah’s servants spread the ointment over the boil, and Hezekiah recovered!
8 Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah,
“What sign will the Lord give to prove that he
will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of
the Lord three days from now?”
9 Isaiah replied, “This is the sign from the
Lord to prove that he will do as he promised.
Would you like the shadow on the sundial to
go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?*”
10 “The shadow always moves forward,” Hezekiah replied, “so that would be easy. Make
it go ten steps backward instead.” 11 So Isaiah
the prophet asked the Lord to do this, and he
caused the shadow to move ten steps backward
on the sundial* of Ahaz!
20
Envoys from Babylon
12 Soon after this, Merodach-baladan* son of
Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his
best wishes and a gift, for he had heard that
Hezekiah had been very sick. 13 Hezekiah received the Babylonian envoys and showed them
everything in his treasure-houses—the silver,
the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He
also took them to see his armory and showed
them everything in his royal treasuries! There
was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men
want? Where were they from?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”
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15 “What did they see in your palace?” Isaiah
asked.
“They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied.
“I showed them everything I own—all my royal
treasuries.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to
this message from the Lord: 17 The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the
treasures stored up by your ancestors until
now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing
will be left, says the Lord. 18 Some of your very
own sons will be taken away into exile. They
will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.”
19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.”
For the king was thinking, “At least there will be
peace and security during my lifetime.”
20 The rest of the events in Hezekiah’s reign,
including the extent of his power and how he
built a pool and dug a tunnel* to bring water
into the city, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 21 Hezekiah died, and
his son Manasseh became the next king.
Manasseh Rules in Judah
Manasseh was twelve years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.
2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan
nations that the Lord had driven from the land
ahead of the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the pagan
shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He
constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done.
He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.
4 He built pagan altars in the Temple of the
Lord, the place where the Lord had said, “My
name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” 5 He
built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the Lord’s Temple.
6 Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the
fire.* He practiced sorcery and divination, and
he consulted with mediums and psychics. He
did much that was evil in the Lord’s sight,
arousing his anger.
7 Manasseh even made a carved image of
Asherah and set it up in the Temple, the very
place where the Lord had told David and his
son Solomon: “My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem—the city
I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel. 8 If the Israelites will be careful to obey my
21
20:4 As in Greek version and an alternate reading in the
Masoretic Text; the other alternate reads the middle of the
city. 20:9 Or The shadow on the sundial has gone forward ten
steps; do you want it to go backward ten steps? 20:11 Hebrew
the steps. 20:12 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek
and Syriac versions (see also Isa 39:1); Masoretic Text reads
Berodach-baladan. 20:20 Hebrew watercourse. 21:6 Or
also made his son pass through the fire.