Then king Hezekiah got sick

and the Lord sent Isaiah to tell him, Get everything ready at your house because you are going to die.

When Hezekiah heard this he turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, O Lord, I beg You, remember how I have walked before You in Your truth and kept my heart perfectly set on You and have done what You say is right. And Hezekiah cried a lot of big tears.

Then the Lord told Isaiah, Go tell Hezekiah, I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. I will add fifteen more years to your life. And I will protect this city and I will save you from this bad king.

This will be the sign of My power that I will do this for you.

I will turn the sundial backward by ten hours.

Then you will see

that I hold everything in the universe

              in My hand.

The Lord did what He said, and later Hezekiah wrote about it when he was well.

He said, I said when my days were cut off, I will go the gates of the grave. The rest of my years are taken from me. I will not see the Lord anymore in this land of the living.

I am cut off. I was sad and moaned like a dove.

O Lord I am pressed down hard, work for me.

I will go softly all my years left.

But when I am pressed down and get quiet with You then my spirit lives. You will make me well and I will live.

You, in love for my soul, saved me from the pit. You threw away all my sins behind Your back.

The grave and death cannot sing happy songs to You. The ones who live sing happy songs to You.

     The Lord was ready and waiting to save me;

so we will sing my happy songs all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

Isaiah had told the ones taking care of King Hezekiah when he was sick, Take a lump of figs and make a plaster to lay on the boil and he will get better.

Then the king of Babylon sent a letter and presents to king Hezekiah when he heard that Hezekiah had been sick but was well now.

Hezekiah was happy about the visitors coming from Babylon. He showed them all the gold and silver and jewels and precious things in his kingdom, even his room of treasures and his room of weapons and swords.

There was nothing in all Hezekiah’s kingdom that he did not show to the visitors from Babylon.

Then Isaiah came to king Hezekiah and said, Who are those men? And were did they come from? And what have they seen that you have?

Hezekiah told Isaiah, They came from far away, from Babylon and I showed them everything in our kingdom.

Then Isaiah said, Listen to what the Lord of all the armies of the heavens says about this: Watch,

the days are coming that all that is in your house and all the treasures of this land that have been saved up by your fathers and their fathers through all the years will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left.

And your own sons that you will have, they will take them away too.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord that you told me. There will be peace and truth in my days.