Part 484 (2/2)

37:33. Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the a.s.syrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with s.h.i.+eld, nor cast a trench about it.

37:34. By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, saith the Lord.

37:35. And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.

37:36. And the angel of the Lord went out and slew in the camp of the a.s.syrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold they were all dead corpses.

37:37. And Sennacherib the king of the a.s.syrians went out and departed, and returned, and dwelt in Ninive.

37:38. And it came to pa.s.s, as he was wors.h.i.+pping in the temple of Nesroch his G.o.d, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Isaias Chapter 38

Ezechias being advertised that he shall die, obtains by prayer a prolongation of his life: in confirmation of which the sun goes back.

The canticle of Ezechias.

38:1. In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet cane unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live.

38:2. And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,

38:3. And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.

38:4. And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying:

38:5. Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the G.o.d of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years:

38:6. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the a.s.syrians, and I will protect it.

38:7. And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word which he hath spoken:

38:8. Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines backward.

And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was gone down.

38:9. The writing of Ezechias king of Juda, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.

38:10. I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of h.e.l.l: I sought for the residue of my years.

h.e.l.l... Sheol, or Hades, the region of the dead.

38:11. I said: I shall not see the Lord G.o.d in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.

38:12. My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd's tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

38:13. I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

38:14. I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me.

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