Isaiah 39:1-8

  • Messengers from Babylon (1-8)

39  At that time the king of Babylon, Merʹo·dach-balʹa·dan son of Balʹa·dan, sent letters and a gift to Hez·e·kiʹah,+ for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered.+  Hez·e·kiʹah gladly welcomed* them and showed them his treasure-house+—the silver, the gold, the balsam oil and other precious oil, his whole armory, and everything that was to be found in his treasuries. There was nothing that Hez·e·kiʹah did not show them in his own house* and in all his dominion.  After that Isaiah the prophet came in to King Hez·e·kiʹah and asked him: “What did these men say, and where did they come from?” So Hez·e·kiʹah said: “They came from a distant land, from Babylon.”+  Next he asked: “What did they see in your house?”* Hez·e·kiʹah replied: “They saw everything in my house.* There was nothing that I did not show them in my treasuries.”  Isaiah now said to Hez·e·kiʹah: “Hear the word of Jehovah of armies,  ‘Look! Days are coming, and all that is in your house* and all that your forefathers have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’+ says Jehovah.+  ‘And some of your own sons to whom you will become father will be taken and will become court officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”+  At that Hez·e·kiʹah said to Isaiah: “The word of Jehovah that you have spoken is good.” Then he added: “Because there will be peace and stability* during my lifetime.”*+

Footnotes

Lit., “rejoiced over.”
Or “palace.”
Or “palace.”
Or “palace.”
Or “palace.”
Or “truth.”
Lit., “days.”