2 Kings 20:10 (KJV)

Passage

And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 20:8 And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?

2 Kings 20:9 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

2 Kings 20:10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

2 Kings 20:11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

2 Kings 20:12 At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "light", "hezekiah", "answered", "shadow", "down", "degrees", and "return". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "light" and "hezekiah", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "And Isaiah said This sign shalt thou..." into verse 11's "And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the...", so "light" and "hezekiah" belong inside that flow. In 2 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "light" and "hezekiah" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.