2 Kings 20:1-11·~1 min

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

Isaiah tells Hezekiah to prepare for death, and the king turns away to pray. He asks the LORD to remember his faithful walk and weeps bitterly.

I¹n 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.’” ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, ³“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.

Before Isaiah leaves, the LORD sends him back with a promise of healing, worship, added years, and deliverance for Jerusalem. A fig poultice is applied, and Hezekiah recovers.

⁴Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ⁵“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. On the third day from now you will go up to the house of the LORD. ⁶I 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.’” ⁷Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered.

Hezekiah asks for a sign that he will be healed and return to the house of the LORD. At Isaiah's prayer, the shadow moves backward on Ahaz's stairway.

⁸Now 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?” ⁹And 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?” ¹⁰“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.” ¹¹So 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.

Section summaryHezekiah receives a sentence of death, prays with tears, and is granted healing and fifteen more years. The promise is confirmed by a sign, as the shadow on Ahaz's stairway moves backward at the LORD's word.

Role in the chapterThis opening section gathers Hezekiah's weakness, prayer, and restoration into one scene. It shows the king preserved by God's mercy even after a final word seems to have been spoken.