myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

2 Kings 20:9–11

The shadow on the steps of Ahaz

The witnesses agree on the sign. They render the object differently: "steps" (Hebrew ma'alot, Greek "degrees"), "dial" (KJV), "horologium" (Vulgate).

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original KingsUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Kings
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. ADTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Kings

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. AD

    Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    l'ombre, sur les marches, recula de dix degrés

    the shadow, on the steps, went back ten degrees

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    reduxit umbram per lineas… in horologio Achaz

    brought back the shadow by the lines… on the sundial of Ahaz

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Kings

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וַיָּשֶׁב אֶת־הַצֵּל בַּמַּעֲלוֹת אֲשֶׁר יָרְדָה בְּמַעֲלוֹת אָחָז אֲחֹרַנִּית עֶשֶׂר מַעֲלוֹת

    and he brought back the shadow on the steps that it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, backward ten steps

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    ten degrees backward… in the dial of Ahaz

What changed, and why

The text presents a sign from God. No astronomical event has been identified with it; popular claims of a "lost day" found by computers are a modern legend, and spacecraft explanations have no evidence.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe witnesses describe the object differently.
  • Conflicts with current evidenceA computer found a missing day.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Hezekiah's Illness and the Siloam Tunnel →Hezekiah falls mortally ill; Isaiah tells him to set his house in order. He turns to the wall, weeps and prays; God adds fifteen years. A lump of figs is laid on his boil, and as a sign the shadow goes back ten steps on the stairway of Ahaz. Envoys come from Merodach-baladan of Babylon; Hezekiah shows them all his treasures, and Isaiah foretells that everything will be carried to Babylon. Hezekiah's water conduit is noted.