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Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies

(2 Kings 20.1-11; 2 Chronicles 32.24-26)

38 About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. So I went in and told him, “The Lord says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, and so you had better start doing what needs to be done.”

Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, “Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried hard.

Then the Lord sent me with this message for Hezekiah:

I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will let you live 15 more years, while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria.

Now I will prove to you that I will keep my promise. Do you see the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway built for King Ahaz? I will make the shadow go back ten steps.

Then the shadow went back ten steps.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 38.8 steps: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 8.

Hezekiah’s Illness(A)

38 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz(B) went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order,(C) because you are going to die; you will not recover.”(D)

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked(E) before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion(F) and have done what is good in your eyes.(G)” And Hezekiah wept(H) bitterly.

Then the word(I) of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David,(J) says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears;(K) I will add fifteen years(L) to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend(M) this city.

“‘This is the Lord’s sign(N) to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.(O)

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