In this chapter we have, I. Hezekiah’s sickness, and his recovery from that, in answer to prayer, in performance of a promise, in the use of means, and confirmed with a sign, 2 Kings 20:1–11. II. Hezekiah’s sin, and his recovery from that, 2 Kings 20:12–19.

The historian, having shown us blaspheming Sennacherib destroyed in the midst of the prospects of life, here shows us praying Hezekiah delivered in the midst of the prospects of death—the days of the former shortened, of the latter prolonged. I. Here is Hezekiah’s sickness.

Here is, I. An embassy sent to Hezekiah by the king of Babylon, to congratulate him on his recovery, 2 Kings 20:12. The kings of Babylon had hitherto been only deputies and tributaries to the kings of Assyria, and Nineveh was the royal city.