“Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
- KJV I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
- NKJV “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
- NASB “Please, Lord, just remember how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight!” And Hezekiah wept profusely.
- NLT “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hezekiah pleads his faithful walk before God and weeps bitterly. He appeals to a life lived in covenant sincerity, not sinless perfection.
Overview
The king asks God to remember his wholehearted devotion, not claiming to be flawless but pleading covenant faithfulness. His bitter weeping shows the depth of his anguish before death. While believers do not earn God's favor, Scripture commends a sincere heart, and ultimately our standing rests on Christ's perfect obedience credited to us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 35
- Neh 13:14Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my deeds of loving devotion for the house of my God and for its services.
- Neh 13:22Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this as well, O my God, and show me mercy according to Your abundant loving devotion.
- Neh 5:19Remember me favorably, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.
- 2 Kgs 18:3–6And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.
- Neh 13:31I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.
- 1 Jn 3:21–22Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
- Luke 1:6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
- 2 Sam 12:21–22“What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.”
- 1 Kgs 8:61So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”
- Ps 145:18The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Isa 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
- Ps 6:6I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- 2 Chr 31:20–21So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God.
- Ps 89:47Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Ps 25:7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD.
- Ps 32:2Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
- Gen 5:24Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.
- Jer 4:2and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”
- 1 Kgs 3:6Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
- Gen 5:22And after he had become the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
- Gen 8:1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
- Ps 119:49Remember Your word to Your servant, upon which You have given me hope.
- John 1:47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”
- Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
- 2 Cor 1:12And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
- Job 1:8Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”
- Ps 89:50Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—
- Isa 63:11Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them,
- 1 Kgs 11:4For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- 1 Kgs 15:14The high places were not removed, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted to the LORD all his days.
- 2 Chr 16:9For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”
- Ps 102:9For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- 1 Kgs 2:4and so that the LORD may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
- Heb 5:7During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 20:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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