Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20 In those days [when Sennacherib first invaded Judah] Hezekiah became deathly ill. The prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not recover.’”^{(A) 2} Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Please, O Lord, remember now [with compassion] how I have walked before You in faithfulness and truth and with a whole heart [entirely devoted to You], and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father (ancestor): “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life and save you and this city [Jerusalem] from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”’” ⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And they brought it and placed it on the [painful] inflammation, and he recovered.”

⁸ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will [completely] heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from the Lord, that He will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow [indicating the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go backward ten steps?” ¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” ¹¹ So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the steps ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the ^[a]sundial of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

¹² At that time ^[b]Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.^{(B) 13} Hezekiah listened to and welcomed them and [^[c]foolishly] showed them all his treasure house—the silver and gold and spices and precious oil and his armory and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house (palace) nor in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say [that would cause you to do this for them]? From where have they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house (palace). There is nothing in my treasuries that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the time is coming when everything that is in your house, and that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘And some of your sons (descendants) who will be born to you will be ^[d]taken away [as captives]; and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Is it not good, if [at least] there will be peace and security in my lifetime?”

²⁰ The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the [Siloam] pool and the aqueduct and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²¹ Hezekiah slept with his fathers [in death], and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he ^[e]became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ² He did [great] evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with the [idolatrous] repulsive acts of the [pagan] nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons (descendants) of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places [for the worship of pagan gods] which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he set up altars for Baal and made an [image of] Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built [pagan] altars in the house (temple) of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My ^[f]Name (Presence).” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. ⁶ He made his son pass through the fire and burned him [as an offering to Molech]; he practiced witchcraft and divination, and dealt with mediums and soothsayers. He did great evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. ⁷ He made a carved image of the [goddess] Asherah and set it up in the house (temple), of which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem [in the tribe of Judah], which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever. ⁸ And I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will be careful to act in accordance with everything that I have commanded them, and with all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen; and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

The King’s Idolatries Rebuked

¹⁰ Now the Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these repulsive acts, having done more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols; ¹² therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am bringing such catastrophe on Jerusalem and Judah, that everyone who hears of it, both of his ears will ring [from the shock]. ¹³ I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes a [dirty] bowl clean, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant (remainder) of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies; and they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger, since the day their fathers came from Egypt to this day.’”

¹⁶ Moreover, Manasseh shed a very great quantity of innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.^{(C) 17} Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, everything that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Manasseh slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Succeeds Manasseh

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done.^{(D) 21} He walked in all the [evil] ways that his father had walked; and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them; ²² he abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³ But the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house (palace). ²⁴ Then the people of the land [of Judah] killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.