OET-RV 2KI Chapter 20

20 By that time, King Hizkiyyah was terminally ill and Amots’s son the prophet Yeshayah (Isaiah) came to him and told him, “Yahweh says to get your affairs in order because you’re dying and won’t recover.”

2 But Hizkiyyah rolled over to face the wall and prayed to Yahweh, 3 “Oh Yahweh, please remember that I’ve served you faithfully, and done what you asked with total sincerity.” Then Hezekiah cried loudly.

4 As Yeshayah was leaving, Yahweh gave him this message before he’d even reached the middle courtyard, 5 “Go back and tell Hizkiyyah, the leader of my people, ‘Your ancestor David’s God Yahweh says that he’s heard your prayer and seen your tears. He’s decided to heal you and you’ll be well enough to go to the temple within three days. 6 He’s added fifteen years to your life, plus he’ll rescue you and this city from the Assyrian king. Yahweh will defend Yerushalem for his own sake and for the sake of his servant David.”

7 Then Yeshayah told them to bring some pressed figs, and they brought them and placed them on the sore, and Hizkiyyah started getting better.

8 Hezekiah asked Yeshayah, “What’s the sign that Yahweh will heal me and that I’ll be able to go to the temple on the third day?”

9 “Yes, Yahweh will give you a sign that he’ll do what he said,” Yeshayah replied. “Do you want the shadows to advance suddenly or go back?”

10 “It’s easy for the shadows go forward,” said Hizkiyyah. “So make them go backwards ten steps.”

11 So the prophet Yeshayah called to Yahweh, and he made the shadow go back on the steps made by King Ahaz—the shadow went ten steps backward.

12 At that time, Baladan’s son former King Berodak-Baladan of Babylon heard that Hizkiyyah was sick and sent him letters and a gift. 13 When the messengers arrived, Hizkiyyah listened to them, then he showed them his entire treasure house: the gold and silver, the spices and the best oil, the house of his armour, and everything that was in his treasuries. He didn’t keep anything in his palace or in his kingdom secret from them. 14 Later the prophet Yeshayah came to King Hezekiah and he asked him, “Where were those men from and what did they say?”

“They came from a distant land—from Babylon,” he replied.

15 “What did they see in your house?” Yeshayah asked.

“They saw everything that’s in my house,” he replied. “There wasn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

16 Then Yeshayah told Hizkiyyah, “Listen to Yahweh’s message: 17 He says that days are coming when everything in your house, and everything that your ancestors stored carefully away until this day will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left behind.[ref] 18 What’s more, some of your own biological descendants will be taken and they’ll be castrated to become servants of the Babylonian king.”

19 “What you said from Yahweh is fine,” Hizkiyyah replied to Yeshayah. “At least I might have peace and stability in my time.”

20 Everything else that Hizkiyyah said and did, including his making the pool and tunnel to bring water into the city, is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 21 In due course, Hizkiyyah died and his son Menashsheh replaced him as king.