Hezekiah’s Life Extended^(A)

20 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was near death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.”

² Then he turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with an undivided heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Now before Isaiah had come out of the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Turn back and say to 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. I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ I will add to your days fifteen years, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant.”

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” So they took it and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I should go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: Should the shadow walk forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to stretch ten steps, so let it go back ten steps.”

¹¹ Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and He made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.

Hezekiah’s Pride

²⁴ In those days Hezekiah became ill even to the point of death, so he prayed to the Lord. He spoke to the king and gave him a sign. ²⁵ But Hezekiah did not make recompense for what was given to him because his heart was proud. So divine anger was on him, Judah, and Jerusalem. ²⁶ Then Hezekiah humbled himself from his arrogant heart, both he and those who lived in Jerusalem, and the anger of the Lord did not come over them in the days of Hezekiah.