“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.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB “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.
- 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, my God, concerning this, and don’t wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances.
- Neh 13:22I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.
- Neh 5:19Remember to me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
- 2 Kgs 18:3–6He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done.
- Neh 13:31and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, for good.
- 1 Jn 3:21–22Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God;
- Luke 1:6They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
- 2 Sam 12:21–22Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.”
- 1 Kgs 8:61“Let your heart therefore be perfect with Yahweh our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today.”
- Ps 145:18Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
- Isa 38:14I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”
- Ps 6:6I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.
- 2 Chr 31:20–21Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah; and he did that which was good, right, and faithful before Yahweh his God.
- Ps 89:47Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
- Ps 25:7Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh.
- Ps 32:2Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
- Gen 5:24Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.
- Jer 4:2and you shall swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”
- 1 Kgs 3:6Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
- Gen 5:22After Methuselah’s birth, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
- Gen 8:1God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.
- Ps 119:49Remember your word to your servant, because you gave me hope.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
- Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
- 2 Cor 1:12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
- Job 1:8Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”
- Ps 89:50Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
- Isa 63:11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?”
- 1 Kgs 11:4When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father was.
- 1 Kgs 15:14But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Yahweh all his days.
- 2 Chr 16:9For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.”
- Ps 102:9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.
- 1 Kgs 2:4Then Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘a man on the throne of Israel.’
- Heb 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
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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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