CHAPTER 39
At that
time
Merodach-baladan
son
of Baladan
king
of Babylon
sent
letters
and a gift
to
Hezekiah,
for he had heard
about
Hezekiah’s illness
and recovery.
And Hezekiah
welcomed
the envoys
and showed them
what was in his treasure
house—
the silver,
the gold,
the spices,
and the precious
oil,
as well as his entire
armory—
everything
that
was found
in his storehouses.
There was
nothing
in his palace
or in all
his dominion
that
Hezekiah
did not
show them.
Then the prophet
Isaiah
went
to
King
Hezekiah
and asked,
“From where
did those men
come,
and what
did they say
to you?”
“They came
to me
from
a distant
land,”
Hezekiah
replied,
“from Babylon.”
“What
have they seen
in your palace?”
Isaiah asked.
“They have seen
everything
in my palace,”
answered
Hezekiah.
“There is nothing
among my treasures
that
I did not
show them.”
The time
will surely
come
when everything
in your palace
and all that
your fathers
have stored up
until
this
day
will be carried off
to Babylon.
Nothing
will be left,
says
the LORD.
And some of your descendants,
your
own flesh and blood,
will be taken away
to be
eunuchs
in the palace
of the king
of Babylon.”
But Hezekiah
said
to
Isaiah,
“The word
of the LORD
that
you have spoken
is good.”
For he thought,
“At least
there will be
peace
and security
in my lifetime.”