2 Kings 20 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Hezekiah’s Life Extended

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

(2 Chr. 32:24–26; Is. 38:1–8 )

2Ki 20:1In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”

2Ki 20:2

2Ki 20:2Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying,

2Ki 20:3

2Ki 20:3“Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

2Ki 20:4

2Ki 20:4And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

2Ki 20:5

2Ki 20:5“Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

2Ki 20:6

2Ki 20:6“And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

2Ki 20:7

2Ki 20:7Then Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

2Ki 20:8

2Ki 20:8And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD the third day?”

2Ki 20:9

2Ki 20:9Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?”

2Ki 20:10

2Ki 20:10And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

2Ki 20:11

2Ki 20:11So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

The Babylonian Envoys

(Is. 39:1–8 )

2Ki 20:12

2Ki 20:12At that time Berodach-Baladan[fn] the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

2Ki 20:13

2Ki 20:13And Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all[fn] his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

2Ki 20:14

2Ki 20:14Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.”

2Ki 20:15

2Ki 20:15And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

2Ki 20:16

2Ki 20:16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD:

2Ki 20:17

2Ki 20:17‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD.

2Ki 20:18

2Ki 20:18‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

2Ki 20:19

2Ki 20:19So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?”

Death of Hezekiah

(2 Chr. 32:32, 33 )

2Ki 20:20

2Ki 20:20Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

2Ki 20:21

2Ki 20:21So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(20:12)

Spelled Merodach-Baladan in Isaiah 39:1

(20:13)

Following many Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, and Targum; Masoretic Text omits all.

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For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.