The Holy Bible 2 Kings 20:1-19 by Robert Alter Lyrics

In those days Hezekiah fell mortally ill, and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet came to him and said to him, "Thus said the LORD: 'Charge your household, for you are about to die and you will not live.'" And he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, "Please, O LORD, recall, pray, that I walked before You truthfully and with a whole heart and did what was good in Your eyes." And Hezekiah wept. And it happened that Isaiah had not gone out of the central court, when the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Go back, and you shall say to Hezekiah prince of My people, "Thus said the LORD God of David your forefather: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. I am about to heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. And I shall add to your days fifteen years, and from the hand of the king of Assyria I shall save you and this city, and I shall defend this city for my sake and for the sake of David My servant.'" And Isaiah said, "Fetch a clump of figs." And they fetched it and put it on the burning rash, and he revived. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What is the sign that the LORD will heal me and I will go up on the third day to the house of the LORD?" And Isaiah said, "This is the sign for you from the Lord that the LORD will do the thing which He spoke: should the shadow go down ten steps or should it go back ten steps?" And Hezekiah said, "It is easy for the shadow to incline down ten steps and not for the shadow to go backward ten steps." And Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He turned back the shadow that had gone down on the Steps of Ahaz, backward ten steps. At that time Berodach-Baladan king of Babylonia sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had fallen ill. And Hezekiah heard of the envoys and showed them all his house of precious things, the silver and the gold and the spices and the goodly oil, and his armory and all his treasuries. There was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in his kingdom. And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say to you and where did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "From a distant land, from Babylonia." And he said, "What did they see in your house?" And Hezekiah said, "All that is in my house they saw. There was nothing that I did not show them of my treasuries." And Isaiah said, "Listen to the word of the LORD: 'Look, a time is coming when everything that is in your house and that your fathers stored up till this day will be borne off to Babylonia. Nothing will remain,' said the LORD. 'And from your sons who will issue from you, whom will beget, he will take and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylonia.' And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." And he thought, "Why, there will be peace and trust in my days."