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. And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, "Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: 'I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, 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. This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: I will make the sun's shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.'" So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended. This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.” I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world. My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me. I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me. I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.” What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live. Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
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.
Significance
Isaiah 38:1-20 and 2 Chronicles 32:24-26 are parallel accounts of Hezekiah's mortal illness (חָלָה, chalah) and divine healing, with each text emphasizing different aspects. Isaiah provides the full narrative — the death sentence, Hezekiah's prayer, the fifteen-year extension, the sign of the shadow, and Hezekiah's psalm of thanksgiving (38:9-20). The Chronicler's compressed account (32:24-26) adds a critical theological detail absent from Isaiah: Hezekiah's heart became proud after his recovery, bringing divine wrath, which was only averted when "Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart" (וַיִּכָּנַע חִזְקִיָּהוּ). This interpretive supplement reveals the Chronicler's distinctive concern with the test-of-the-heart motif and explains why the illness narrative matters theologically — not merely as a miracle, but as a test of faithfulness that Hezekiah initially failed.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Redemptive-Historical Progression — parallel tellings of Hezekiah's healing: Isaiah's full account with the thanksgiving psalm (38:9-20) and the Chronicler's compressed version with its added pride-wrath-humbling sequence (32:25-26) are two canonical placements of one event, the later text carrying the story forward into its post-exilic lesson on the tested heart of David's son — deliverance received, pride exposed, humbling accepted, wrath averted.
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