Part 484 (1/2)

37:8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the a.s.syrians besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

37:9. And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:

37:10. Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let not thy G.o.d deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the a.s.syrians.

37:11. Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the a.s.syrians have done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be delivered?

37:12. Have the G.o.ds of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thala.s.sar?

37:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?

37:14. And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it before the Lord.

37:15. And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:

37:16. Lord of hosts, G.o.d of Israel who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the G.o.d of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.

37:17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living G.o.d.

37:18. For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the a.s.syrians have laid waste lands, and their countries.

37:19. And they have cast their G.o.ds into the fire, for they were not G.o.ds, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces.

37:20. And now, O Lord our G.o.d, save us out of his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.

37:21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the G.o.d of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib the king of the a.s.syrians:

37:22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.

37:23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

37:24. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and hast said: With the mult.i.tude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Liba.n.u.s: and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its height, to the forest of its Carmel.

Carmel... See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.

37:25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.

37:26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it hath come to pa.s.s that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should be destroyed.

37:27. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and were confounded: they became like the gra.s.s of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the gra.s.s of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe.

37:28. I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

37:29. When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

37:30. But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

37:31. And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward:

37:32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.