2 Raja-raja 20:1-6

Hezekiah is Healed

20:1 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 

[20:1]  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 Lord came to him, saying.” Instead of “courtyard” (חָצֵר, khatser), the marginal reading, (Qere), the Hebrew consonantal text (Kethib) has הָעִיר (ha’ir), “the city.”

[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.”