The Visit by Merodach-baladan
39 At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, when[a] he heard he had been sick and had survived.[b] 2 Hezekiah was delighted with them, and showed them everything in[c] his treasure-houses[d]—the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oils, his entire armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom[e] that Hezekiah did not show them.
Isaiah Rebukes Hezekiah
3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?”
Hezekiah replied, “From a distant land—they came to me from Babylon.”
4 “What did they see in your palace?” he asked.
“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah replied. “There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them.”
5 Then Isaiah told Hezekiah, “Listen to this message[f] from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies: 6 ‘The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off[g] to Babylon. They will come in, and[h] nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘Then some of your own sons, who will come from your loins,[i] whom you will father, will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
8 “The message from the Lord that you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, since he was thinking, “…at least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 39:1 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab MT; 4QIsab LXX read because
- Isaiah 39:1 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read had recovered
- Isaiah 39:2 So 1QIsaa MTmss; the Heb. lacks in
- Isaiah 39:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read treasure-house; MTqere reads his treasure-house
- Isaiah 39:2 So 1QIsaa; MT reads realm; LXX lacks kingdom
- Isaiah 39:5 Lit. word
- Isaiah 39:6 So 1QIsaa (pl.); cf. LXX; 1QIsab MT (sing.)
- Isaiah 39:6 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 39:7 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT read from you