ኢሳይያስ 39

Messengers from Babylon and a warning

¹About that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. He had heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had regained his strength. ²Hezekiah welcomed them gladly and showed them his treasury: the silver and the gold, the spices and the fine oil, his whole armory, and everything to be found in his storehouses. In his palace and across his whole kingdom, there was nothing he did not let them see.^{a 3}Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? And where did they come from to visit you?” Hezekiah answered, “They came to me from a faraway country, from Babylon.” ⁴He asked, “What did they see in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They saw all that is in my palace. In my storerooms there is not a thing I failed to show them.” ⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to the word of the LORD of Armies: ⁶Look, a time is coming when all that is in your palace, everything your ancestors have laid up until today, will be hauled off to Babylon. Not one thing will remain, says the LORD. ⁷Some of your descendants, born of your own line, will be taken away, and they will serve as eunuchs in the palace of the Babylonian king.”^{b 8}Hezekiah answered Isaiah, “This word of the LORD that you have brought is good.” He was thinking, “At any rate there will be peace and stability as long as I live.”