2 Kings 20

KJV · Chapter 20/25

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

²Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,

³I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

⁴And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

⁵Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.

⁶And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

⁷And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?

⁹And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

¹⁰And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

¹¹And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

¹²At that time Berodach–baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

¹³And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

¹⁴Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.

¹⁵And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

¹⁶And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord.

¹⁷Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.

¹⁸And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

¹⁹Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?

²⁰And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²¹And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Hezekiah falls gravely ill and, after praying and weeping, receives fifteen additional years of life, along with a miraculous sign of the sundial's shadow moving backward. Later, he unwisely shows all the kingdom's treasures to Babylonian messengers, and Isaiah prophesies that these riches, and even his own descendants, would one day be carried off into exile in Babylon.

Explanation

Hezekiah's healing shows that God responds to sincere prayer even when a judgment (imminent death) had already been announced, but the episode that follows reveals a flaw of character: pride and a lack of discernment in displaying national treasures to an emerging foreign power. This vanity has prophetic consequences of the longest possible term, foreshadowing the Babylonian exile that would occur more than a hundred years later. It is a reminder that even the most faithful kings can have serious blind spots, and that seemingly unimportant decisions (showing off riches to visitors) can have profound historical repercussions.

Fun facts

This episode of Hezekiah's illness is narrated in parallel in Isaiah 38, including a song of thanksgiving written by the king himself after his healing, one of the few examples of personal royal poetry preserved in the Old Testament.
Hezekiah's seemingly resigned response to the prophecy of future exile ('Good is the word of the Lord... there will be peace and truth in my days') is often criticized by commentators as an example of selfish complacency, thinking only of his own generation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Kings 20:1Hezekiah’s healing is tied both to personal faith — the king weeps and recalls his faithfulness — and to a visible physical sign, the shadow on the sundial moving back ten steps. It is one of the few miracles in the book linked to an explicit request for confirmation.
2 Kings 20:2Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays, a gesture of intimacy and desperation on hearing the news that he is going to die.
2 Kings 20:3He asks the Lord to remember his faithfulness, how he walked with a whole heart doing what is right, and weeps bitterly — a deeply human prayer in the face of death.
2 Kings 20:4Even before Isaiah leaves the middle courtyard of the palace, the word of the Lord reaches him again — the answer comes fast.
2 Kings 20:5The Lord sends Isaiah back to tell Hezekiah: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, I will heal you, and on the third day you will go up to the temple.
2 Kings 20:6The Lord adds fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life and promises to deliver him, together with the city, from the hand of Assyria, for His own honor and for the promise made to David.
2 Kings 20:7Isaiah prescribes a lump of figs applied to the boil, and Hezekiah recovers — a practical remedy used alongside the miracle.
2 Kings 20:8Hezekiah asks for a sign confirming the healing and that he really will go up to the temple on the third day.
2 Kings 20:9Isaiah offers a choice: should the shadow on the sundial move forward ten steps or back ten steps?
2 Kings 20:10Hezekiah chooses the harder option: it is easy for the shadow to go forward, so let it go back ten steps instead — asking for the more astonishing miracle.
2 Kings 20:11Isaiah prays, and the shadow actually goes back ten steps on the sundial of Ahaz — a sign that literally involves reversing marked time.
2 Kings 20:12Showing off the royal treasury to foreign envoys was normal in prestige diplomacy, but Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah for exactly that. He foresees that these same treasures, and Hezekiah’s own descendants, would one day be carried off to Babylon, anticipating an exile that will only happen more than a hundred years later.
2 Kings 20:13Hezekiah shows the messengers from Babylon everything he has: silver, gold, spices, fine oils, his armory — hiding nothing of his own treasures.
2 Kings 20:14Isaiah asks Hezekiah what the men said and where they came from; he answers that they came from a distant land, Babylon.
2 Kings 20:15Isaiah asks what they saw in the king’s house; Hezekiah admits he showed them everything, keeping nothing hidden.
2 Kings 20:16Isaiah tells Hezekiah to hear the word of the Lord, setting up the announcement that follows.
2 Kings 20:17Days are coming when everything in the palace, everything your ancestors have stored up to this day, will be carried off to Babylon — nothing will be left.
2 Kings 20:18Even some of Hezekiah’s own descendants will be taken away to serve as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
2 Kings 20:19Hezekiah answers that the word of the Lord is good, since at least there will be peace and security for the rest of his own life — accepting a judgment that will fall only on his descendants.
2 Kings 20:20This engineering project, likely the tunnel still visible today in Jerusalem, brought water from an outside spring inside the city walls. It secured the water supply even during a prolonged siege.
2 Kings 20:21Hezekiah dies, and his son Manasseh takes the throne of Judah (the southern kingdom).