2 Kings 20:12 (KJV)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

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.

2 Kings 20:13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

2 Kings 20:14 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "time", "berodachbaladan", "king", "babylon", "sent", "letters", and "present". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "time" and "berodachbaladan", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the..." into verse 13's "And Hezekiah hearkened unto them and shewed...", so "time" and "berodachbaladan" 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 "time" and "berodachbaladan" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.