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Isaiah 39 · a question people ask

Was the LORD's word a punishment for showing them everything?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. It tells what Hezekiah did (39:2), Isaiah's questions and Hezekiah's answers (39:3-4), and then the LORD's word (39:5-7), one after the other, and it puts no because between them. It doesn't say why Hezekiah showed them everything, or what the men said to him (39:3). 2 Chronicles speaks of the same visit in its own words: "However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart" (2 Chronicles 32:31). 2 Chronicles doesn't tell Isaiah's word to Hezekiah, and these notes don't join the showing and the word with a reason neither book gives.

The verses

“However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”
2 Chronicles 32:31 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 39

Isaiah 39: Nothing will be left

Isaiah tells the visit from Babylon in its own words: Hezekiah "was pleased with them" (39:2), where 2 Kings says he "listened to them" (2 Kings 20:13). After chapters about the king of Assyria, the LORD's word names Babylon: "Nothing will be left" (39:6). And the book's next words are "Comfort, comfort my people" (40:1).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions