2 Kings 20 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Around that time, Hezekiah got deathly sick. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, "This is what Yahweh says: Get your house in order, because you're going to die. You won't recover from this."

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh:

"Please, Yahweh, remember how I've walked before you faithfully and with my whole heart, and how I've done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah broke down crying.

Before Isaiah had even left the middle courtyard, Yahweh's message came to him:

"Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: This is what Yahweh, the God of your ancestor David, says -- I've heard your prayer. I've seen your tears. I'm going to heal you. On the third day, you'll go up to Yahweh's house."

"I'll add fifteen years to your life. And I'll rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I'll defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

Then Isaiah said, "Prepare a lump of figs." They prepared it and applied it to the infected area, and Hezekiah recovered.

Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me and that I'll go up to Yahweh's house on the third day?"

Isaiah said, "This will be your sign from Yahweh that he'll do what he promised: Do you want the shadow to move forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

Hezekiah said, "It's easy for the shadow to move forward ten steps. No -- make it go back ten steps instead."

So the prophet Isaiah called out to Yahweh, and Yahweh made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway of Ahaz -- back the way it had already come down.

Around that time, Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he'd heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them everything in his treasure house -- the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oils, his armory, and everything that was in his storehouses. There wasn't a single thing in his palace or in his entire kingdom that Hezekiah didn't show them.

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did those men say? And where did they come from?" Hezekiah said, "They came from a distant land -- from Babylon."

Isaiah asked, "What did they see in your palace?" Hezekiah said, "They saw everything in my palace. There isn't a single thing in my storehouses that I didn't show them."

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to what Yahweh says:

"The time is coming when everything in your palace -- everything your ancestors stored up until today -- will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says Yahweh.

"And some of your own descendants -- your own flesh and blood -- will be taken away. They'll become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon."

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The message from Yahweh that you've spoken is good." He was thinking, "At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime."

As for the rest of Hezekiah's story -- all his achievements, and how he built the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city -- it's all written in the official records of the kings of Judah.

Hezekiah died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Manasseh became king after him.