Chapter 20

Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery

1 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: "This is what the LORD says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness."
        2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
3 "Remember, O LORD, how I have always tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing in your sight." Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
        4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the LORD:
5 "Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, `This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD.
6 I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will do this to defend my honor and for the sake of my servant David.' "
        7 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah's servants, "Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil." They did this, and Hezekiah recovered!
        8 Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, "What sign will the LORD give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of the LORD three days from now?"
        9 Isaiah replied, "This is the sign that the LORD will give you to prove he will do as he promised. Would you like the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?"
        10 "The shadow always moves forward," Hezekiah replied. "Make it go backward instead."
11 So Isaiah asked the LORD to do this, and he caused the shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!