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Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 38:7–8 and 2 Kings 20:9–11

The shadow on the steps of Ahaz

"Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward." The Hebrew says "steps" (ma'alot), not "sun dial"; the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "the steps of the upper chamber of Ahaz," the library's Greek "the steps of your father's house," and the Vulgate "the clock (horologium) of Ahaz." In 2 Kings 20:9–11 Hezekiah chooses whether the shadow goes forward or back.

Read Isaiah 38:7–8 and 2 Kings 20:9–11 in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

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. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. 2 Kings 20:11 (Masoretic Text)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 38:7–8. Reads "the steps of the upper chamber (aliyyat) of Ahaz" where the Masoretic Text has "the steps of Ahaz" (compare 2 Kings 23:12), and "the sun" with the object marker. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

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

    Hoc autem tibi erit signum a Domino, quia faciet Dominus verbum hoc quod locutus est: ecce ego reverti faciam umbram linearum per quas descenderat in horologio Achaz in sole, retrorsum decem lineis. Et reversus est sol decem lineis per gradus quos descenderat.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 38:7–8. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

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

    וְזֶה־לְּךָ֥ הָא֖וֹת מֵאֵ֣ת יְהוָ֑ה אֲשֶׁר֙ יַעֲשֶׂ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה אֶת־הַדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֵּֽר׃ הִנְנִ֣י מֵשִׁ֣יב אֶת־צֵ֣ל הַֽמַּעֲל֡וֹת אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָרְדָה֩ בְמַעֲל֨וֹת אָחָ֥ז בַּשֶּׁ֛מֶשׁ אֲחֹרַנִּ֖ית עֶ֣שֶׂר מַעֲל֑וֹת וַתָּ֤שָׁב הַשֶּׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ עֶ֣שֶׂר מַעֲל֔וֹת בַּֽמַּעֲל֖וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָרָֽדָה׃

    Behold, I will make the shadow on the steps, which has gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, go back ten steps (v. 8)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 38:7–8.

  5. AD 1008

    2 Kings 20:11 (Masoretic Text)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

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

    וַיִּקְרָ֛א יְשַׁעְיָ֥הוּ הַנָּבִ֖יא אֶל־יְהוָ֑ה וַיָּ֣שֶׁב אֶת־הַצֵּ֗ל בַּֽ֠מַּעֲלוֹת אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָרְדָ֜ה בְּמַעֲל֥וֹת אָחָ֛ז אֲחֹֽרַנִּ֖ית עֶ֥שֶׂר מַעֲלֽוֹת׃

    Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back on the steps by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, ten steps backward

    The parallel.

  6. 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).

    And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken; 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.

  7. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

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

    Tel est le signe du Seigneur qui te montrera que sa parole s’accomplira: Voilà que je vais faire reculer l’ombre des marches où le soleil est descendu, de dix degrés sur la maison de ton père; je ferai reculer le soleil de ces dix degrés. Et le soleil remonta les dix marches que l’ombre avait descendues.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 38:7–8. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: manuscript variant ("upper chamber" in 1QIsa-a) plus translation differences; 2 Kings is a separate literary account with more detail.

2 Kings 23:12 mentions altars "on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz": a real structure in the palace.

No astronomical record confirms the event; the "NASA missing day" story is an urban legend.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documented1QIsa-a reads "the upper chamber of Ahaz." Described from a transcription.
  • Independently documentedThe Hebrew ma'alot means "steps."
  • Conflicts with current evidenceThe event is confirmed astronomically.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 38: The Shadow on the Steps →Hezekiah is mortally ill; Isaiah tells him to set his house in order (38:1). Hezekiah turns to the wall, prays and weeps; God answers: I have seen your tears; I will add fifteen years and deliver this city (vv. 2–6). The sign: the shadow on the steps of Ahaz goes back ten steps (vv. 7–8). Then Hezekiah's written psalm: "I shall go to the gates of the grave… mine age is… removed from me as a shepherd's tent… the grave cannot praise thee… The living, the living, he shall praise thee" (vv. 9–20). Two closing verses, out of order, tell of Isaiah's fig poultice and Hezekiah's request for a sign (vv. 21–22).
    • 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.
    • Investigation: The Great Isaiah Scroll →Found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947, the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) is the only complete book of the Hebrew Bible among the Dead Sea Scrolls, about a thousand years older than the medieval codices behind printed Hebrew Bibles. It agrees with the Masoretic Text in most of its words and differs in thousands of small ways: spelling, grammar, scribal slips, corrections, and a few real variants. This investigation explains what the scroll is, how its differences are classified, and which ones matter.