UNROLL
Dusk over the palace quarter of Jerusalem: a plain wall of dressed stone and flat roofs dark against the evening, one small high window glowing with the light of a single clay lamp; above, a calm evening sky deepening from gold to blue.

The Book of

2 Kings 20

Told to set his house in order, a king turns his face to the wall and prays. God gives him fifteen years, and a sign in a shadow.

21 verses≈ 5 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–8ElishaThe prophet's double portion
  2. 9–12JehuThe house of Ahab falls
  3. 13–17Last kings of IsraelSamaria falls
  4. 18–20HezekiahTrust in the LORDChapter 20
  5. 21–23JosiahThe Book found
  6. 24–25ExileJerusalem falls

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

Night in a plain plastered bedroom of the palace, lit by one clay oil lamp in a wall niche: Hezekiah lies on a low wooden bed turned toward the wall, his face hidden in the crook of his arm, weeping; a folded blue robe on a bench; a servant waits in the dark doorway.

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

0:27

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

“Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you.

2 Kings 20:5

On the third day from now you will go up to the house of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”

Close, by lamplight at a bedside: a servant's hands press a warm mash of dried figs into a soft cloth over a shallow clay bowl, a few whole dried figs on a cord beside it; behind, out of focus, the edge of the bed and the king's still hand on the blanket.

Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered.

Hezekiah

Now Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?”

Isaiah

And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

Hezekiah

“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.”

So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

Question

Quick question

Hezekiah was offered a choice of signs, and he chose the harder one.

How many steps did the shadow go back on the stairway of Ahaz?

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures

Isaiah

Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah

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

Isaiah

“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked.

Hezekiah

“They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Will there not at least be peace and security in my lifetime?”

Reflect

The years He gives

Hezekiah prayed with tears and was given fifteen more years. Then he showed the envoys of Babylon everything: “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” When God answers a prayer, what will you do with what He gives? Write down one answered prayer, and one way to give Him the glory for it.

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah

Inside a narrow, winding tunnel cut through pale limestone, its walls rough with chisel marks, clear water running ankle-deep along the floor and catching the light of a single clay oil lamp on a rock ledge; the tunnel bends away into darkness.

Judah

Hezekiah’s last acts

  1. His might, the pool and the tunnel

    As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, along with all his might and how he constructed the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

  2. Manasseh reigns in his place

    And Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

You’ve experienced

2 Kings 20

0 of 25 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you.

2 Kings 20:5

or swipe left