The Visit by Merodach-baladan

1At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, whena he heard he had been sick and had survived.b 2Hezekiah was delighted with them, and showed them everything inc his treasure-housesd —the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oils, his entire armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdome that Hezekiah did not show them.

Isaiah Rebukes Hezekiah

3Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “From a distant land—they came to me from Babylon.”

4“What did they see in your palace?” he asked.

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah replied. “There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them.”

5Then Isaiah told Hezekiah, “Listen to this messagef from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies: 6‘The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried offg to Babylon. They will come in, andh nothing will be left,’ says the LORD. 7‘Then some of your own sons, who will come from your loins,i whom you will father, will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

8“The message from the LORD that you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, since he was thinking, “…at least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”