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英文原文
The story of this chapter likewise we had before, 2Ki 20:12, etc. It is here repeated, not only as a very memorable and improvable passage, but because it concludes with a prophecy of the captivity in Babylon; and as the former part of the prophecy of this book frequently referred to Sennacherib's invasion and the defeat of that, to which therefore the history of that was very fitly subjoined, so the latter part of this book speaks much of the Jews' captivity in Babylon and their deliverance out of that, to which therefore the first prediction of it, with the occasion thereof, is very fitly prefixed. We have here, I. The pride and folly of Hezekiah, in showing his treasures to the king of Babylon's ambassadors that were sent to congratulate him on his recovery, Isa 39:1,2. II. Isaiah's examination of him concerning it, in God's name, and his confession of it, Isa 39:3,4. III. The sentence passed upon him for it, that all his treasures should, in process of time, be carried to Babylon, Isa 39:5-7. IV. Hezekiah's penitent and patient submission to this sentence, Isa 39:8.
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Hezekiah's Vanity (712 BC)
希西家的虚荣（主前712年）
¹ 那时，巴比伦王巴拉但的儿子米罗达·巴拉但送信和礼物给希西家，因为他听见希西家病了，又痊愈了。
² 希西家喜欢他们，就把他宝库的金、银、香料、珍贵的膏油，和他武库的一切军器，并他府库中所存的，都给他们看；他家中和全国之内，没有一样不给他们看的。
³ 于是先知以赛亚来见希西家王，对他说：这些人说什么？他们从哪里来见你？希西家说：他们从远方的巴比伦来见我。
⁴ 以赛亚说：他们在你家里看见了什么？希西家说：凡我家中所有的，他们都看见了；我的财宝中没有一样不给他们看的。
由此我们可以学到这些教训：1. 人道和寻常的礼貌教导我们：当亲友邻舍欢乐时与他们同乐，祝贺他们得脱离患难，尤其是祝贺他们病愈。巴比伦王听见希西家病了、又痊愈了，便差使者来就此向他致意。基督徒若不爱邻如己，异教徒也要使他们羞愧。2. 我们当尊重神所尊重的人。太阳是巴比伦人所拜的神；当他们明白太阳在某一日出乎意料地倒退十度，乃是因着希西家的缘故，他们便觉得自己有义务尽一切所能地向希西家致敬。万民如此奉他们神的名而行，我们岂不更当如此？3. 那些不以善人之善而看重善人的人，仍可因别的诱因、为世俗利益的缘故，而被引去向他们大表敬意。巴比伦王向希西家献殷勤，并非因他敬虔，而是因他昌盛，正如非利士人因见耶和华与以撒同在，便渴望与以撒结盟（创 26:28）。巴比伦王与亚述王为敌，所以偏爱希西家，因为亚述人被希西家之神的大能大大削弱了。4. 在大升高之中保持心灵谦卑，是一件难事。希西家便是一例：他是个智慧良善的人，但当一个神迹接一个神迹为他行出来时，他发现难以保守心不至高抬，那时一点小事就把他引入骄傲的网罗。蒙福的保罗自己也需要肉体中的一根刺，免得他「因所得启示甚大就过于自高」。5. 我们在向朋友展示我们的产业——我们所行的、所得的——之时，需要谨慎自己的心，免得对它们骄傲，仿佛我们的力量或功劳为我们买得、挣得这些财富。当我们观看自己的所有，有机会谈论之时，必须谦卑地承认自己的不配，感恩地承认神的美善，公正地看重别人的成就，并预期损失和变迁，不要以为自己的山立得稳固、不会很快动摇。6. 善人若过于看重这世界之子对他们所表示的世俗敬意（即便其中有特别非凡之处），并喜爱与他们的交往，这便是极大的软弱。神如此抬举希西家，他却因一位异邦君王所给的敬意而如此骄傲，仿佛那能为他增添什么，这是何等可怜！我们当加倍回报此类的礼遇，却不当以此自傲。7. 我们必须预备为骄傲的运行交账，即便它是隐密的，是在我们以为无害的实例中；所以我们当为这些事自省；当我们接待了向我们表敬意的客人、客人对所受的款待很满意、对一切都加以称赞之后，我们当以敬虔的谨慎自察，免得我们的心已被高抬。我们只要稍有理由怀疑这狡猾隐微的骄傲之罪已经潜入我们的胸怀，并混杂在我们的言谈之中，便当为此羞愧，并如希西家在此一样，坦率地承认它，为此自取羞辱。
英文原文
Hezekiah's Vanity (712 BC)
¹ At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
² And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.
³ Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.
⁴ Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.
Hence we may learn these lessons:—1. That humanity and common civility teach us to rejoice with our friends and neighbours when they rejoice, and to congratulate them on their deliverances, and particularly their recoveries from sickness. The king of Babylon, having heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and had recovered, sent to compliment him upon the occasion. If Christians be unneighbourly, heathens will shame them. 2. It becomes us to give honour to those whom our God puts honour upon. The sun was the Babylonians' god; and when they understood that it was with a respect to Hezekiah that the sun, to their great surprise, went back ten degrees, on such a day, they thought themselves obliged to do Hezekiah all the honour they could. Will all people thus walk in the name of their God, and shall not we? 3. Those that do not value good men for their goodness may yet be brought to pay them great respect by other inducements, and for the sake of their secular interests. The king of Babylon made his court to Hezekiah, not because he was pious, but because he was prosperous, as the Philistines coveted an alliance with Isaac because they saw the Lord was with him, Ge 26:28. The king of Babylon was an enemy to the king of Assyria, and therefore was fond of Hezekiah, because the Assyrians were so much weakened by the power of his God. 4. It is a hard matter to keep the spirit low in the midst of great advancements. Hezekiah is an instance of it: he was a wise and good man, but, when one miracle after another was wrought in his favour, he found it hard to keep his heart from being lifted up, nay, a little thing then drew him into the snare of pride. Blessed Paul himself needed a thorn in the flesh, to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of revelations. 5. We have need to watch over our own spirits when we are showing our friends our possessions, what we have done and what we have got, that we be not proud of them, as if our might or our merit had purchased and procured us this wealth. When we look upon our enjoyments, and have occasion to speak of them, it must be with humble acknowledgments of our own unworthiness and thankful acknowledgments of God's goodness, with a just value for the achievements of others and with an expectation of losses and changes, not dreaming that our mountain stands so strong but that it may soon be moved. 6. It is a great weakness for good men to value themselves much upon the civil respects that are paid them (yea, though there be something particular and uncommon in them) by the children of this world, and to be fond of their acquaintance. What a poor thing was it for Hezekiah, whom God has so dignified, to be thus over proud of the respect paid him by a heathen prince as if that added any thing to him! We ought to return the courtesies of such with interest, but not to be proud of them. 7. We must expect to be called to an account for the workings of our pride, though they are secret, and in such instances as we thought there was no harm in; and therefore we ought to call ourselves to an account for them; and when we have had company with us that have paid us respect, and been pleased with their entertainment, and commended every thing, we ought to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy lest our hearts have been lifted up. As far as we see cause to suspect that this sly and subtle sin of pride has insinuated itself into our breasts, and mingled itself with our conversation, let us be ashamed of it, and, as Hezekiah here, ingenuously confess it and take shame to ourselves for it.
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Hezekiah's Vanity Punished (712 BC)
希西家的虚荣受罚（主前712年）
⁵ 以赛亚对希西家说：你要听万军之耶和华的话： ⁶ 日子必到，凡你家里所有的，并你列祖积蓄到如今的，都要被掳到巴比伦去，不留下一点；这是耶和华说的。 ⁷ 并且从你本身所生的众子，就是你所生的，也必被掳去；他们必在巴比伦王宫里作太监。 ⁸ 希西家对以赛亚说：你所说耶和华的话甚好。他又说：因为在我的日子中，必有和平和真实。
从此我们当留意：1. 神若爱我们，他必使我们谦卑，并设法在我们灵性过分高抬时把我们的灵压下来。一个令人降卑的信息被打发给希西家，好叫他为他心里的骄傲自卑，并认识其中的愚妄；因为神虽然可能许可他的百姓陷入罪中——如他在此处对希西家所作的，要「试验他，好知道他心里一切如何」——却不容他们停留在罪中。2. 神把我们引以为傲、并据此建立属肉体的自信的事从我们夺去，这是公义的。当大卫以他百姓的人数骄傲时，神就设法使他们减少；当希西家夸耀他的宝物、并以过分的自满观看它们时，他被告知他行事如同那愚妄的旅人，把自己的银子和金子给了一个原来作贼的人看，因而招致对方抢劫。3. 我们若能看见将来的事，就会为对现在之事的想法感到羞愧。希西家若知道这位巴比伦王的子孙后嗣日后将成为他家和国的祸患，他就不会如此奉承他的使者了；当先知告诉他事情将如此时，我们可以想象他为自己的所作所为何等烦恼。我们不能确切预知将来，但被告知「凡事都是虚空」，所以我们对任何带有这性质的事物存自满、置信赖，本身就是虚空。4. 那些喜爱与不敬虔之人结交或结盟的人，迟早要受够，并要为此后悔。希西家以为与巴比伦结交甚为有幸，虽然巴比伦是淫乱和偶像之母；但如今向耶路撒冷献媚的巴比伦，日后却征服了她、把她掳去。与罪人结盟，并与罪结盟，结局都是如此；所以我们明智之举是远离他们。5. 那些真心为罪懊悔的人，必甘心受责备，也愿意别人指出他们的过错。希西家以为那向他显出罪恶、使他感觉自己行事不当——这是他先前未曾觉察的——的主的话为好。真心悔改之人的话是：「任凭义人击打我，这算为仁慈」；律法「所以」是好的，因为律法是属乎灵的，在律法中罪显出是罪，而且极其罪恶。6. 真心悔改的人不仅安静顺服话语的责备，也顺服因罪而赐之护理的责打。当希西家被告知他罪孽的刑罚时，他说：「耶和华的话甚好」，不仅是判决的减轻，连判决本身也好；他对这判决的公正无可推诿，反而在威吓上说「阿们」。那些看见罪的邪恶和它当受之报应的人，必在因罪而临到自己的一切事上称义神，并承认神责罚他们轻于他们的罪孽所当受的。7. 我们虽然不可不顾及我们身后的人，但若我们的日子中有「和平和真实」，并且好过我们所当指望的，我们就算被善待了。若风暴将临，我们当以在风暴来到之前进入港湾、在平安中被收聚入坟墓为恩待；然而我们绝不能以此自恃，却当预备自己时代的变迁，好叫我们在神一切的旨意上得以完全，无论旨意如何都欢迎它。
英文原文
Hezekiah's Vanity Punished (712 BC)
⁵ Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
⁶ Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
⁷ And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
⁸ Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
Hence let us observe, 1. That, if God love us, he will humble us, and will find some way or other to pull down our spirits when they are lifted up above measure. A mortifying message is sent to Hezekiah, that he might be humbled for the pride of his heart, and be convinced of the folly of it; for though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, as he did Hezekiah here, to prove him, that he might know all that was in his heart, yet he will not suffer them to lie still in it. 2. It is just with God to take that from us which we make the matter of our pride, and on which we build a carnal confidence. When David was proud of the numbers of his people God took a course to make them fewer; and when Hezekiah boasts of his treasures, and looks upon them with too great a complacency, he is told that he acts like the foolish traveller who shows his money and gold to one that proves a thief and is thereby tempted to rob him. 3. If we could but see things that will be, we should be ashamed of our thoughts of things that are. If Hezekiah had known that the seed and successors of this king of Babylon would hereafter be the ruin of his family and kingdom, he would not have complimented his ambassadors as he did; and, when the prophet told him that it would be so, we may well imagine how he was vexed at himself for what he had done. We cannot certainly foresee what will be, but are told, in general, All is vanity, and therefore it is vanity for us to take complacency and put confidence in any thing that goes under that character. 4. Those that are fond of an acquaintance or alliance with irreligious men will first or last have enough of it, and will have cause to repent it. Hezekiah thought himself very happy in the friendship of Babylon, though it was the mother of harlots and idolatries; but Babylon, who now courted Jerusalem, in process of time conquered her and carried her captive. Leagues with sinners, and leagues with sin too, will end thus; it is therefore our wisdom to keep at a distance from them. 5. Those that truly repent of their sins will take it well to be reproved for them and will be willing to be told of their faults. Hezekiah reckoned that word of the Lord good which discovered sin to him, and made him sensible that he had done amiss, which before he was not aware of. The language of true penitents is, Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness; and the law is therefore good, because, being spiritual, in it sin appears sin, and exceedingly sinful. 6. True penitents will quietly submit, not only to the reproofs of the word, but to the rebukes of Providence for their sins. When Hezekiah was told of the punishment of his iniquity he said, Good is the word of the Lord, not only the mitigation of the sentence, but the sentence itself; he has nothing to object against the equity of it, but says Amen to the threatening. Those that see the evil of sin, and what it deserves, will justify God in all that is brought upon them for it, and own that he punishes them less than their iniquities deserve. 7. Though we must not be regardless of those that come after us, yet we must reckon ourselves well done by if there be peace and truth in our days, and better than we had reason to expect. If a storm be coming, we must reckon it a favour to get into the harbour before it comes, and be gathered to the grave in peace; yet we can never be secure of this, but must prepare for changes in our own time, that we may stand complete in all the will of God, and bid it welcome whatever it is.
本章的故事我们先前也已经读过（王下20:12等）。此处之所以重述，不仅因为这是一段十分值得记念、可资借镜的事迹，更因为它以预言巴比伦之掳作为结尾；正如本书前半部分的预言常常提及西拿基立的入侵及其失败——因此那一段历史被十分恰当地附在其后——照样，本书后半部分也大量论到犹太人在巴比伦的被掳以及他们从中得释放，因此，关于此事的最初预言及其缘由，也被十分恰当地放在前面。这里我们有：一、希西家的骄傲与愚妄——他在巴比伦王为祝贺他痊愈而差来的使者面前展示自己的宝物（赛39:1,2）。二、以赛亚奉神的名就此向他查问，以及他的承认（赛39:3,4）。三、为此向他宣告的判语：他一切的宝物日久必被带到巴比伦（赛39:5-7）。四、希西家对此判语悔改而忍耐的顺服（赛39:8）。