The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign. But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
Earlier text
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.'" Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the house of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’” Then Isaiah said, "Prepare a poultice of figs." So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered. Now Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?" And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?” “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.” So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.
Kings devotes eleven verses to Hezekiah's illness, prayer, divine response through Isaiah, the sundial sign, and the fig poultice healing. The Chronicler in 2 Chronicles 32:24-26 compresses all of this into three verses, adding the unique theological commentary that "his heart was proud" (גָּבַהּ לִבּוֹ, gavah libbo) after his recovery, but "Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart" and wrath was averted during his days. The Chronicler thus interprets the illness as connected to Hezekiah's pride — likely his display of treasures to the Babylonian envoys — a connection Kings narrates sequentially but does not explicitly moralize.