II Kings Chapter 20

II Kings 20 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1In those days Hezekiah fell dangerously ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “Thus said G OD : Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die; you will not get well.”
2. 2Thereupon Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to G OD . He said,
3. 3“Please, O E TERNAL One, remember how I have walked before You sincerely and wholeheartedly, and have done what is pleasing to You.” And Hezekiah wept profusely.
4. 4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of G OD came to him:
5. 5“Go back and say to Hezekiah, the ruler of My people: Thus said G OD , the God of your forefather David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. I am going to heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the House of G OD .
6. 6And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will also rescue you and this city from the hands of the king of Assyria. I will protect this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.”—
7. 7Then Isaiah said, “Get a cake of figs.” And they got one, and they applied it to the rash, and he recovered.—
8. 8Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What is the sign that G OD will heal me and that I shall go up to the House of G OD on the third day?”
9. 9Isaiah replied, “This is the sign for you from G OD that G OD will do the thing that was promised: Shall the shadow advance ten steps or recede ten steps?”
10. 10Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for the shadow to recede ten steps.”
11. 11So the prophet Isaiah called to G OD , and the shadow that had descended on the dial of Ahaz was made to recede ten steps.
12. 12At that time, King Berodach -baladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent [envoys with] a letter and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness.
13. 13Hezekiah heard about them and he showed them all his treasure-house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fragrant oil—and his armory, and everything that was to be found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
14. 14Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah. “What,” he demanded of him, “did those men say to you? Where have they come to you from?” “They have come,” Hezekiah replied, “from a far country, from Babylon.”
15. 15Next he asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” And Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything that is in my palace. There was nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
16. 16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of G OD :
17. 17A time is coming when everything in your palace that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will remain behind, said G OD .
18. 18And some of your sons, your own issue, whom you will have fathered, will be taken to serve as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19. 19Hezekiah declared to Isaiah, “The word of G OD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “It means that safety is assured for my time.”
20. 20The other events of Hezekiah’s reign, and all his exploits, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
21. 21Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

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