Isaiah 39 WBT
Summary: Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon, sends envoys with letters and a gift to Hezekiah after hearing of his illness and recovery, and Hezekiah, flattered, shows them everything in his treasury, armory, and storehouses, holding nothing back. Isaiah confronts Hezekiah afterward, asking what the men saw and where they came from, and upon hearing they came from Babylon and saw everything, pronounces that a day is coming when all this wealth, along with some of Hezekiah's own descendants, will be carried off to Babylon and made eunuchs in its king's palace. Hezekiah's response is notably self-focused rather than alarmed: he says the word of the LORD is good, for at least there will be peace and truth in his own days. This chapter closes the first major division of Isaiah, historically transitioning the book's outlook toward the coming Babylonian captivity and the exile that dominates the chapters ahead.
1At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.
2And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.
3Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men? and from whence came they to thee? and Hezekiah said, They have come to me from a far country, [even] from Babylon.
4Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All that [is] in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.
5Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
6Behold, the days come, that all that [is] in thy house, and [that] which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
7And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
8Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good [is] the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
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