Bible Strands
Isaiah 38:8
I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Isaiah to King Hezekiah during Hezekiah’s terminal illness, declaring a visible sign to confirm His promise of recovery. The statement is made before the event occurs, establishing the moment of divine assurance.
The words — The Hebrew מֵשִׁ֣יב (me.Shiv) translates to “[am] about to turn back,” paired with צֵ֣ל (tzel), meaning “shadow.” These terms specify a localized reversal of light rather than a cosmic alteration.
The thread — The event is recorded as a confirming sign in 2 Kings 20:9 and 2 Chronicles 32:24, and it echoes the solar intervention in Joshua 10:12. Each account treats the phenomenon as a direct verification of a spoken divine promise.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to accept that God’s words are validated by His command over natural order. It demands a response of trust grounded in observable confirmation rather than abstract speculation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 20:9 And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”
- Joshua 10:12 On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
- 2 Chronicles 32:24 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
- Matthew 16:1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.
- 2 Chronicles 32:31 And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.