1. In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.”
2. He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord:
3. “Ah, Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was good in your sight!” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4. Before Isaiah had left the central courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him:
5. Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father:I have heard your prayer;I have seen your tears.Now I am healing you.On the third day you shall go upto the house of the Lord.
6. I will add to your life fifteen years.I will rescue you and this cityfrom the hand of the king of Assyria;I will be a shield to this cityfor my own sake and the sake of David my servant.”
7. Then Isaiah said, “Bring a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil for his recovery.”
8. Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?”
9. Isaiah replied, “This will be the sign for you from the Lord that he will carry out the word he has spoken: Shall the shadow go forward or back ten steps?”
10. “It is easy for the shadow to advance ten steps,” Hezekiah answered. “Rather, let it go back ten steps.”
11. So Isaiah the prophet invoked the Lord. He made the shadow go back the ten steps it had descended on the staircase to the terrace of Ahaz.
12. At that time, Berodach-baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah when he heard that he had been ill.