And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and (o) healed the people.
(o) That is, accepted them as purified.

And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah,.... Heard his prayer, and accepted of it, and granted what he desired:
and healed his people; that is, forgave their sins, as Kimchi interprets it; forgiveness being expressed by healing, for which he refers to Psalm 41:4 to which may be added Psalm 103:3 and which was known either by a prophet sent to declare it, or by not punishing them for their offence.

the Lord . . . healed the people--We imagine the whole affair to have been the following: In consequence of their transgressions they had cause to fear disease and even death (Leviticus 15:31). Hezekiah prayed for the nation, which was on the point of being diseased, and might therefore be regarded as sick already [BERTHEAU].

God heard this intercession, and healed the people. רפא, sanare, is not to be explained by supposing, with Bertheau, that first sickness, and then even death, were to be expected as the results of transgression of the law, according to Leviticus 15:31, and that the people might be already regarded as sick, as being on the point of becoming so. The use of the word is explained by the fact that sin was regarded as a spiritual disease, so that רפא is to be understood of healing the soul (as Psalm 41:5), or the transgression (Hosea 14:5; Jeremiah 3:22).

Healed - That is, pardoned this their sin, and accepting them and their services, as if they had been clean.