8 Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, "You say the Lord will heal me. You say that I'll go up to his temple on the third day from now. What will the miraculous sign be to prove he'll really do that?"
9 Isaiah answered, "The Lord will do what he has promised. Here is his sign to you. Do you want the shadow the sun makes to go forward ten steps? Or do you want it to go back ten steps?"
10 "It's easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps," said Hezekiah. "So have it go back ten steps."
11 Then the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord. And the Lord made the shadow go back ten steps. It went back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway Ahaz had made.
12 At that time Merodach-Baladan, the king of Babylonia, sent Hezekiah letters and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. Merodach-Baladan was the son of Baladan.
13 Hezekiah received the messengers. He showed them everything that was in his storerooms. He showed them the silver and gold. He showed them the spices and the fine olive oil. He showed them where he kept his weapons. And he showed them all of his treasures. In fact, he showed them everything that was in his palace and in his whole kingdom.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah. He asked him, "What did those men say? Where did they come from?" "They came from a land far away," Hezekiah said. "They came from Babylon."