Discovery Box2 Kings 20:1-8
Context20:1 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. 1 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’” 2 20:2 He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 20:3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you 3 faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, 4 and how I have carried out your will.” 5 Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. 6
20:4 Isaiah was still in the middle courtyard when the Lord told him, 7 20:5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow 8 you will go up to the Lord’s temple. 20:6 I will add fifteen years to your life and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” 9 20:7 Isaiah ordered, “Get a fig cake.” So they did as he ordered 10 and placed it on the ulcerated sore, and he recovered. 11
20:8 Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What is the confirming sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple the day after tomorrow?”
[20:1] 1 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying.”
[20:1] 2 tn Heb “will not live.”
[20:3] 3 tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.
[20:3] 4 tn Heb “and with a complete heart.”
[20:3] 5 tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”
[20:3] 6 tn Heb “wept with great weeping.”
[20:4] 7 tc Heb “and Isaiah had not gone out of the middle courtyard, and the word of the
[20:5] 8 tn Heb “on the third day.”
[20:6] 9 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
