What does the Lord promise after Ezechias prays during his illness, and what does Isaias later say about his treasures and sons?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Lord says he has heard Ezechias’s prayer and seen his tears, promises healing, fifteen added years and protection for the king and city. Later, after Ezechias shows the Babylonian visitors everything, Isaias says all the house’s treasures and the fathers’ stores will be carried to Babylon and some of his sons will be taken as eunuchs in its king’s palace.

Chapter breakdown

In those days Ezechias is sick unto death. Isaias the prophet, son of Amos, comes with the Lord God’s word telling him to give charge concerning his house, because he will die and not live. Ezechias turns his face to the wall and prays to the Lord. He asks him to remember how he has walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart and has done what pleases him. Ezechias weeps greatly.

Before Isaias has gone out of the middle of the court, the Lord’s word tells him to go back to Ezechias, the captain of his people. The Lord, the God of David his father, says he has heard the prayer, seen the tears and healed him. On the third day Ezechias will go up to the Lord’s temple. The Lord will add fifteen years to his days, deliver him and this city from the Assyrian king’s hand and protect the city for his own sake and for David his servant’s sake.

Isaias asks for a lump of figs. They bring it and lay it on Ezechias’s boil, and he is healed.

Ezechias has asked Isaias what sign will show that the Lord will heal him and that he will go up to the temple on the third day. Isaias says the sign from the Lord will show that he will do the word he has spoken. He asks whether the shadow should go forward ten lines or back that many degrees. Ezechias says going forward ten lines is easy and he does not want that done; he asks instead that it go back ten degrees.

Isaias the prophet calls upon the Lord, and the Lord brings the shadow ten degrees backwards along the lines by which it has already gone down on Achaz’s dial.

At that time Berodach Baladan, son of Baladan and king of the Babylonians, sends letters and presents to Ezechias because he has heard Ezechias was sick. Ezechias rejoices at their coming. He shows them his house of aromatic spices, gold, silver, various precious scents and ointments, the house of his vessels and everything in his treasures. There is nothing in his house or in all his dominions that he does not show them.

Isaias the prophet comes to Ezechias and asks what the men said and where they came from. Ezechias answers that they came from a far country, Babylon. Isaias asks what they saw in his house. Ezechias says they saw everything in it and that there is nothing among his treasures he has not shown them.

Isaias tells Ezechias to hear the Lord’s word. Days will come when everything in his house and what his fathers have stored up to that day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left, the Lord says. Sons who will come from Ezechias, whom he will beget, will also be taken away and will be eunuchs in the Babylonian king’s palace.

Ezechias tells Isaias that the Lord’s word he has spoken is good and asks that peace and truth be in his days.

The account asks whether the rest of Ezechias’s acts, all his might, and his making of a pool and conduit to bring water into the city are written in the book of the words of the days of Juda’s kings. Ezechias dies, described as sleeping with his fathers, and his son Manasses reigns in his place.

The story inside

Ezechias’s illness first brings Isaias’s word to give charge concerning his house because he will die. Ezechias’s turn toward the wall, prayer about his past conduct and great weeping are followed by a new word before Isaias leaves the middle of the court. The Lord explicitly says the prayer has been heard and tears seen. The return message promises healing, the temple visit on the third day, fifteen more years and rescue and protection for the king and city for two stated reasons. Isaias asks for figs; their placement on the boil is followed by healing. Ezechias has asked for a sign confirming healing and the temple visit. He declines the forward movement he calls easy and requests the backward movement; Isaias calls upon the Lord and the shadow returns ten degrees on Achaz’s dial. Berodach Baladan next sends letters and presents because he heard of the illness. Ezechias rejoices and shows all the named things in his house and dominions. Isaias asks about the men’s words, origin and what they saw. Ezechias answers Babylon and confirms the full display. The Lord’s word then foretells the carrying away of everything in the house and ancestral stores, with sons taken as eunuchs in Babylon’s palace. Ezechias calls the word good and asks peace and truth in his own days. The record closes with the reference to his might, pool and conduit, then his death and Manasses’s succession. The chapter records the display and later warning without saying the visitors became covetous or explaining Ezechias’s private motive.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The promise gives precise details. The Lord tells Isaias to return before he leaves the middle of the court, says he has heard prayer and seen tears, and names the third-day temple visit and fifteen added years. It also promises deliverance for both Ezechias and the city and protection for the Lord’s own sake and David’s sake. These belong to Ezechias’s particular answer, rather than a guarantee for every person who weeps or prays.
2
The sign follows an actual choice. Isaias offers forward movement of ten lines or backward movement of that many degrees. Ezechias says forward is easy, declines it and requests ten degrees back. Isaias calls upon the Lord, and the shadow returns on the dial’s already-travelled lines. Keeping the choice and action avoids adding an explanation of the sun’s motion that the verses do not give.
3
The display and warning both concern an all-inclusive extent. Ezechias shows every named store and says nothing was withheld. Isaias then says everything in the house and the fathers’ stores will go to Babylon, nothing left, and sons will be taken as eunuchs in its king’s palace. Ezechias asks peace and truth in his days. The chapter preserves the warning and response without saying he felt relief, humility or indifference toward his sons.

Test your recall

What does the Lord’s return message promise after hearing prayer and seeing tears, why does Ezechias choose the backward shadow, and how do Isaias’s questions about the full display lead into the warning about treasures and sons?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 40465–40483
4 Kings Chapter 20 Ezechias being sick, is told by Isaias that he shall die; but praying to God, he obtaineth longer life, and in confirmation thereof receiveth a sign by the sun’s returning back. He sheweth all his treasures to the ambassadors of the king of Babylon: Isaias reproving him for it, foretelleth the Babylonish captivity. 20:1. In those days Ezechias was sick unto death: and Isaias, the son of Amos, the prophet, came and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. 20:2. And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying: 20:3. I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping.
Lines 40484–40495
20:4. And before Isaias was gone out of the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying: 20:5. Go back, and tell Ezechias, the captain of my people: Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee: on the third day thou shalt go up to the temple of the Lord. 20:6. And I will add to thy days fifteen years: and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect this city for my own sake, and for David, my servant’s sake.
Lines 40496–40498
20:7. And Isaias said: Bring me a lump of figs. And when they had brought it, and laid it upon his boil, he was healed.
Lines 40499–40510
20:8. And Ezechias had said to Isaias: What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord the third day? 20:9. And Isaias said to him: This shall be the sign from the Lord, that the Lord will do the word which he hath spoken: Wilt thou that the shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so many degrees? 20:10. And Ezechias said: It is an easy matter for the shadow to go forward ten lines: and I do not desire that this be done, but let it return back ten degrees.
Lines 40511–40514
20:11. And Isaias, the prophet, called upon the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had already gone down on the dial of Achaz.
Lines 40515–40524
20:12. At that time Berodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of the Babylonians, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard that Ezechias had been sick. 20:13. And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he shewed them the house of his aromatical spices, and the gold, and the silver, and divers precious odours, and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all that he had in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions, that Ezechias shewed them not.
Lines 40525–40532
20:14. And Isaias, the prophet, came to king Ezechias, and said to him: What said these men? or from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias said to him: From a far country, they came to me out of Babylon. 20:15. And he said: What did they see in thy house? Ezechias said: They saw all the things that are in my house: There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
Lines 40533–40542
20:16. And Isaias said to Ezechias: Hear the word of the Lord. 20:17. Behold the days shall come, that all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. 20:18. And of thy sons also that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Lines 40543–40545
20:19. Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days.
Lines 40546–40554
20:20. And the rest of the acts of Ezechias, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought waters into the city, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? 20:21. And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses, his son reigned in his stead.