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2 Kings 20:9

in 2 Kings 20

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

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

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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This verse in 2 Kings 20

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
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.

This site's exposition

What shall be the sign

on 2 Kings 20:8-9

Hezekiah asks for a sign that the third-day promise will hold, and Isaiah answers by handing him the choice: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees, on the dial of Ahaz. The instrument is usually read as a set of marked steps rather than a dial with a gnomon, its shadow lengthening and shortening with the sun across the day. Either direction would be a wonder; the choice is left entirely to the king who asked.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Questions on the Book of Kings #25 · Written before 735.

proposed

"Do you wish the shadow to go forward ten lines or to go back ten steps, etc.?" [2 Kings 20:9] What the prophet Isaiah said to King Hezekiah: Do you wish the shadow to go forward ten lines, or to go back ten steps? signifies …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Isaiah said, this sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken,.... Cure him of his disorder, so that he should be able to go to the temple on the third day: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? that is, the shadow of the sun on a dial plate; it was left to his option to choose which he would, as the confirming sign of his recovery.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

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.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

And Chizkiyohu said, ”It is easier for the shade to advance ten steps.” It is easy [for the shade] to remain in its place, and stay for ten steps, it is not something that is so conspicuous.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Kings 20:10:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְשַׁעְיָ֗הוּIsaiah

    yesha'yahuH3470 →39 times

  • זֶה־this

    zeh-H2088 →1180 times

  • לְּךָ֤for you

    lekha

  • הָאוֹת֙[will be] the sign

    haotH226 →80 times

  • מֵאֵ֣תfrom with

    meetH854 →929 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • כִּ֚יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • יַעֲשֶׂ֣הhe will do

    yaasehH6213 →2628 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַדָּבָ֖רthe thing

    hadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • דִּבֵּ֑רhe has spoken

    diberH1696 →1141 times

  • הָלַ֤ךְit has gone

    halakhH1980 →1546 times

  • הַצֵּל֙the shadow

    hatzelH6738 →49 times

  • עֶ֣שֶׂרten

    ʾeserH6235 →176 times

  • מַֽעֲל֔וֹתsteps

    maalotH4609 →32 times

  • אִם־or?

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • יָשׁ֖וּבwill it go back

    yashuvH7725 →1056 times

  • עֶ֥שֶׂרten

    ʾeserH6235 →176 times

  • מַעֲלֽוֹת׃steps

    maalotH4609 →32 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

6 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 38:7–8This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised:3 worksIsaiah 37:30And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.3 worksJudges 6:36Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said,3 worksMatthew 16:1–4Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.2 worksLuke 11:29–30As the crowds were increasing, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.2 worksMark 8:11–12Then the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, testing Him by demanding from Him a sign from heaven.2 works

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 20 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Bede, Questions on the Book of Kings #25; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).

Read on in 2 Kings 20 →