to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
thing
נָקֵ֣לna.Kel
H7043
to be (causatively · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
shadow
לַצֵּ֔לla.Tzel
H6738
shade · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
down
לִנְט֖וֹתlin.Tot
H5186
to stretch or spread out · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
ten
עֶ֣שֶׂר'E.ser
H6235
ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits) · noun, common masculine singular construct
degrees
מַעֲל֑וֹתma.'a.Lot
H4609
elevation · noun, common feminine plural absolute
shadow
הַצֵּ֛לha.Tzel
H6738
shade · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
return
יָשׁ֥וּבya.Shuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
backward
אֲחֹרַנִּ֖ית'a.cho.ra.Nit
H322
backwards · adverb
ten
עֶ֥שֶׂר'E.ser
H6235
ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits) · noun, common masculine singular construct
degrees
מַעֲלֽוֹתma.'a.Lot
H4609
elevation · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Kings 2:10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it…
2 Kings 3:18 And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.
Isaiah 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel:…
Mark 9:28-29 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; bec…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 20:1-11
The historian, having shown us blaspheming Sennacherib destroyed in the midst of the prospects of life, here shows us praying Hezekiah delivered in the midst of the prospects of death - the days of the former shortened, of the latter prolonged.
I. Here is Hezekiah's sickness. In those days, that is, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem; for he reigning reigned? in all twenty-nine years, and surviving this fifteen years, this must be in his fourteenth year, and so was that, Kg2 18:13. Some think it was at the time that the Assyrian army was besieging the city or preparing for it, because God promises (Kg2 20:6): I will defend the city, which promise was afterwards…
THE SUN GOES TEN DEGREES BACKWARD. (Kg2 20:8-20)
Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What will be the sign that the Lord shall heal me--His recovery in the course of nature was so unlooked for, that the king asked for some token to justify his reliance on the truth of the prophet's communication; and the sign he specified was granted to him. 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. But it is mo…
What shall be the sign - He wished to be fully convinced that his cure was to be entirely supernatural; and, in order to this, he seeks one miracle to prove the truth of the other, that nothing might remain equivocal.
John Gill on 2 Kings 20:10
And Hezekiah answered, it is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees,.... That is, it was comparatively so, otherwise to go down ten degrees at once would be extraordinary and miraculous; but that was more agreeable to the nature and course of it to go forward, and so the miracle would be less apparent:
nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees; which was directly contrary to its natural order and course, whereby the miracle would appear more clear and manifest: these degrees are by some said (x) to be half hours, and not full ones, since it is observed the sun shines not twenty full hours on any dial, unless under the pole; the sun is supposed to have been now at the…
The Church Fathers
It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten steps; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps. Accordingly after the shadow of the sun, as he proceeded [from mid-heaven] had declined the ten steps, then by the divine power, through the prayer of the Prophet, the sun returned backward till he was again in mid-heaven, and the shadow was found to have gone back the ten steps, according to sacred scripture. For if, on the contrary, it had been the third hour of the day, the shadow having by this time gone forward, could neither have gone back, nor could the sun have moved backward, if even it had so happened that the door and the steps of the house of Hezekiah looked to the west. And so much with regard to the position of the house. But the reason for such a sign being accorded was this—that most of the nations and perhaps all of them, serving especially the host of heaven, honour the sun as a greater god than all the others, and, as the father of lights. God therefore by ordering him to go backward, showed to all the nations that He himself was Lord of all, and that the sun was His servant, and was not God. For if He ordered so great a luminary to go back contrary to his use and wont, much more can He order those that are smaller, and treat them as His servants. But with God's help I shall now declare what advantage thence accrued. When the sun then went backward, the circumstance became known to all the nations, even to the ends of the earth, so that even the King of Babylon, Merodach, the son of Baladon, who lived far off and yet beheld the sign, was struck with consternation, and a desire of searching into the nature of this dread and strange miracle. For amazement and terror overcame the king himself and his courtiers, who eagerly sought to learn from all that were conversant with astronomy the cause of this dread and mighty sign. And after much inquiry had been made, he learned that Hezekiah the King of Judaea having fallen into a sickness, and been brought to despair of his life, made prayer unto God, and God restored him to health and gave him an extension of his life of fifteen years, and with a view to give him a sure belief in the promise, He wrought for him this dread and mighty sign because He is the God of gods, who made heaven and earth and all things that therein are
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dial — For the measurement of time, only once mentioned in the Bible, erected by Ahaz (2 Kings 20:11; Isa. 38:8). The Hebrew word (ma’aloth) is rendered “steps” in Ex. 20:26, 1 Kings 10:19, and “degrees” in…
Degrees · Or steps in the dial of Ahaz — Or steps in the dial of Ahaz
Disease · Of Hezekiah — Of Hezekiah
Hezekiah · .Sickness and restoration of — .Sickness and restoration of
Isaiah · Comforts Hezekiah in his affliction — Comforts Hezekiah in his affliction
Time · Indi — Indi
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery. - Compare the parallel account in Isa 38 with Hezekiah's psalm of thanksgiving for his recovery (Isa 38:9-20 of Isaiah).
Kg2 20:1-2
"In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death." By the expression "in those days" the illness of Hezekiah is merely assigned in a general manner to the same time as the events previously described. That it did not occur after the departure of the Assyrians, but at the commencement of the invasion of Sennacherib, i.e., in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, is evident from Kg2 20:6, namely, both from the fact that in answer to his prayer fifteen years more of life were promised him, and that he nevertheless reigned only twenty-…
ten steps backward: Such a retreat of the shadow was contrary to nature, and the miracle confirmed God’s message to Hezekiah.
Rashi on 2 Kings 20:10
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. Not so, rather let the shade go back, and the event will be a wonder, for they saw that the day was turning toward evening, and it returns to become morning [again].