1 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.
2 Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses – the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil – his entire armoury and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, ‘What did those men say, and where did they come from?’‘From a distant land,’ Hezekiah replied. ‘They came to me from Babylon.’
4 The prophet asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’‘They saw everything in my palace,’ Hezekiah said. ‘There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.’