2 Kings 20:9 BSB — MannaFest

2 Kings 20:9

And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign unto thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?

KJV

And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

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Commentary

2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Ten degrees - literally, “ten steps.” It is not, perhaps, altogether certain whether the “dial of Ahaz” 2Ki 20:11 was really a dial with a gnomon in the center, and “degrees” marked round it, or a construction fur marking time by means of “steps.” Sundials proper had been invented by the Babylonians before the time of Herodotus; but the instrument here was probably an instrument consisting of a set of steps, or stairs, with an obelisk at the top, the shadow of which descended or ascended the steps according as the sun rose higher in the heavens or declined.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The shadow of the sun went back upon the dial of Ahaz the ten degrees it had gone down. Various conjectures have been formed as to this dial. The word in the original is "degrees," or "steps," and hence many commentators have supposed that it was a stair, so artfully contrived, that the shadows on the steps indicated the hours and course of the sun.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

22 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר	vai.Yo.mer	and he said	H559 →
יְשַׁעְיָ֗הוּ	ye.sha'.Ya.hu	Isaiah	H3470 →
זֶה־	zeh-	this	H2088 →
לְּךָ֤	le.Kha	for you
הָאוֹת֙	ha.'Ot	[will be] the sign	H226 →
מֵאֵ֣ת	me.'Et	from with	H854 →
יְהוָ֔ה	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →
כִּ֚י	ki	that	H3588 →
יַעֲשֶׂ֣ה	ya.'a.Seh	he will do	H6213 →
יְהוָ֔ה	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
הַדָּבָ֖ר	ha.da.Var	the thing	H1697 →
אֲשֶׁ֣ר	'a.Sher	which	H834 →
דִּבֵּ֑ר	di.Ber	he has spoken	H1696 →
הָלַ֤ךְ	ha.Lakh	it has gone	H1980 →
הַצֵּל֙	ha.Tzel	the shadow	H6738 →
עֶ֣שֶׂר	'E.ser	ten	H6235 →
מַֽעֲל֔וֹת	ma.'a.Lot	steps	H4609 →
אִם־	'im-	or?	H518 →
יָשׁ֖וּב	ya.Shuv	will it go back	H7725 →
עֶ֥שֶׂר	'E.ser	ten	H6235 →
מַעֲלֽוֹת׃	ma.'a.Lot	steps	H4609 →