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2 Kings 20

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2 Kings 20 Overview

Hezekiah becomes sick unto death, and Isaiah tells him to set his house in order. Hezekiah prays and weeps, and God sends Isaiah back with a promise of fifteen additional years and deliverance from Assyria. A lump of figs is applied to the boil, and God gives a sign by making the shadow move backward ten degrees. Later Babylonian envoys visit. Hezekiah shows them all his treasures and armory. Isaiah announces that the treasures and some descendants will one day be carried to Babylon.

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Before you read 2 Kings 20

Coming from

Chapter 19 recorded national deliverance from Assyria through prayer and Isaiah’s prophetic word.

In this chapter

The focus becomes personal and then international: Hezekiah receives extended life but proudly displays Judah’s resources to the empire that will later carry them away.

Leads into

Chapter 21 moves to Manasseh and Amon, whose idolatry reverses Hezekiah’s reforms and deepens the reason for coming judgment.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Hezekiah’s added years are tied to a concrete sign involving the shadow. A fig poultice is used while healing remains explicitly God’s work. The Babylonian embassy becomes the pivot toward Judah’s future exile. Isaiah 38-39 gives the parallel and 2 Chronicles 32 explicitly identifies pride in the embassy episode.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God hears Hezekiah and grants fifteen additional years.

Truth 2

Ordinary means can appear alongside miraculous healing.

Truth 3

Recovery and success become an occasion for pride.

Truth 4

Babylon enters first as an impressed visitor and is immediately identified as a future captor.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Isaiah 38-39 gives the parallel and Hezekiah’s song.

Connection 2

Second Chronicles 32 explains the pride and testing connected with the envoys.

Connection 3

Second Kings 24-25 fulfills the Babylonian exile predicted here.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not treat the figs as a guaranteed biblical cure.

Keep this clear 2

Hezekiah’s experience does not promise every terminal prognosis will be extended by prayer.

Keep this clear 3

Read his statement about peace in his days carefully rather than assuming he delights in future suffering.

Read 2 Kings 20 watching for…

How quickly Isaiah is sent back.

The promises attached to recovery.

The treatment and sign.

Everything shown to Babylon.

What Isaiah predicts Babylon will take.

Hezekiah’s response.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-7Hezekiah becomes sick, prays, and receives fifteen more years 8-11The LORD gives Hezekiah the sign of the shadow returning backward 12-19Hezekiah shows Babylonian messengers his treasures, and Isaiah foretells Babylonian captivity 20-21Hezekiah’s works and death are recorded

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?

And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.

And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?

And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

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2 Kings 20:17

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