2 Kings 20:11

So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

ASV

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto Jehovah; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

YLT

And Isaiah the prophet calleth unto Jehovah, and He bringeth back the shadow by the degrees that it had gone down in the degrees of Ahaz--backward ten degrees.

DBT

And Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah, and he brought the shadow back on the degrees by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.

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Commentary voices

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Voices5

On this verse

In the sixth time, three events came about: the height of victory, of teaching, and of prophecy. The height of victory occurred with Sennacherib who rose against Jerusalem, and "an angel of the Lord slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand." Yet Ezechias was healed in …

Bonaventure· Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 16, 1257patristic

Related commentary

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord,.... Or prayed, as the Targum; and was very earnest in prayer, that what Hezekiah had desired might be granted: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz; Ben Gersom understands it not of the sun itself, but of the shadow of it only; See Gill on Isa 38:8.

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

He brought the shadow ten degrees backward - We cannot suppose that these ten degrees meant ten hours; there were ten divisions of time on this dial: and perhaps it would not be right to suppose that the sun went ten degrees back in the heavens, or that the earth turned back upon its axis from east to west, in a contrary direction to its natural course.

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed

The most plausible idolatry of the heathen was theirs that worshipped the sun; yet that was hereby convicted of the most egregious folly and absurdity, for by this it appeared that their god was under the check of the God of Israel.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

Voices on this verse

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

8 linked verses

The verses this one reaches8

Isaiah 38:8
I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.
Joshua 10:12–14
On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
2 Chronicles 32:24
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
2 Chronicles 32:31
And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
Acts 9:40
Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
Exodus 14:15
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.
1 Kings 18:36–38
At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.
1 Kings 17:20–21
Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?”

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

PersonLate 8th century BCE / Divided KingdomIsaiahEighth-century BCE prophet of Judah whose oracles make up the book of Isaiah; a central voice for messianic prophecy.

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

2 Kings — Two kingdoms on parallel but diverging arcs. Elisha's ministry; Samaria falls to Assyria in 722 BC; Jerusalem falls to Babylon in 586 BC. Prophets interpose; kings refuse; the exile comes — and closes on a whisper of covenant hope.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Compiler anonymous; Jewish tradition attributes to Jeremiah (same as 1 Kings)
Date: Events c. 852–560 BC; closing coda places composition in the mid-exile, c. 560 BC

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
2 Chronicles 32:31
And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might…
leads to
- 2 Chronicles 32:24
  In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 8:2
  Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your…
- Proverbs 17:3
  A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
- John 15:5
  I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
- Genesis 22:1
  Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
Through
2 Chronicles 32:24
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
leads to
- Isaiah 38:1–8
  In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to…
- 2 Kings 20:1–11
  In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to…
Through
Acts 9:40
Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
leads to
- Matthew 9:25
  After the crowd had been put outside, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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Continue: 2 Kings 20 →