Hezekiah¡¯s illness
1 In 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.¡±
2 Hezekiah 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.
4 Isaiah had still not reached the central court yard when the word of
Yahweh came to him,
5 ¡°Go back and tell Heze kiah, the ruler of my people, what Yah weh, 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.
6 See! 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.¡±
8 Hezekiah 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?¡±
9 Isaiah answered, ¡°This shall be the sign for you in Yah weh¡¯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?¡±
10 Hezekiah said, ¡°It is easy for the sha dow to lengthen ten steps, but it
shall be wonderful if the sha dow goes back ten steps.¡±
11 The 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.
7 Isaiah then said, ¡°Bring a fig cake to rub on the ulcer and let Hezekiah
be cured!¡±
12 At that time Merodach-bala dan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent
letters and a gift to Hezekiah after hearing that he was re cover ing from
an illness.
13 He ze kiah rejoiced, so he showed the envoys his treasure house ¨C 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.
14 Then 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.¡±
15 Isaiah 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.¡±
16 So Isaiah said to the king, ¡°Listen to this word of Yahweh:
17 The 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.
18 Some 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.¡±
19 Hezekiah answered Isaiah, ¡°What you say is a good word from Yah weh¡±; for
he thought, ¡°What does it matter just so I have peace and security in my own
lifetime?¡±
20 Now 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.
21 When Hezekiah slept with his fathers, his son Manasseh reigned in his
place.