Day 268 of 730

¹It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the Lord's house.

²He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.

⁴It may be the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'Thus says the Lord, "Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

⁹He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "He has come out to fight against you." When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰"Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?'"

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord's house, and spread it before the Lord.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,

¹⁶"Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁷Turn your ear, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

¹⁸Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,

¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.

²⁰Now therefore, Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord, even you only."

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²²this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

²³Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, "With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.

²⁵I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt."

²⁶Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.

²⁸But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.

²⁹Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

³⁰This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³¹The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

³²For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.'

³³Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.

³⁴By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,' says the Lord.

³⁵'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

³⁶The angel of the Lord went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.

³⁸It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.'"

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,

³and said, "Remember now, the Lord, 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." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,

⁵"Go, and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

⁶I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.

⁷This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has spoken.

⁸Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down."'"

⁹The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

¹⁰I said, "In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years."

¹¹I said, "I won't see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

¹²My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me.

¹³I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.

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."

¹⁵What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live.

¹⁷Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

¹⁸For Sheol can't praise you. Death can't celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth.

¹⁹The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day. The father shall make known your truth to the children.

²⁰The Lord will save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

²¹Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover."

²²Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?"

¹Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

²Let Israel now say that his loving kindness endures forever.

³Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness endures forever.

⁴Now let those who fear the Lord say that his loving kindness endures forever.

⁵Out of my distress, I called on Yah. Yah answered me with freedom.

⁶The Lord is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

⁷The Lord is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me.

⁸It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to put confidence in man.

⁹It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes.

¹⁰All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I cut them off.

¹¹They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the name of the Lord I indeed cut them off.

¹²They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In the name of the Lord I cut them off.

¹³You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, but the Lord helped me.

¹⁴Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.

¹⁵The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. "The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

¹⁶The right hand of the Lord is exalted! The right hand of the Lord does valiantly!"

¹⁷I will not die, but live, and declare the works of Yah.

¹⁸Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah.

²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter into it.

²¹I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.

²²The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

²³This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!

²⁵Save us now, we beg you, Lord! Lord, we beg you, send prosperity now.

²⁶Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

²⁷The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will exalt you.

²⁹Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

¹Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

³It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.

⁴The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.

⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?

⁷A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, "I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin?"

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

¹¹Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, The Lord has made even both of them.

¹³Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

¹⁴"It's no good, it's no good," says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵There is gold and abundance of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

¹⁷Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!

¹⁹He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore do not keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

²¹An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won't be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, "I will pay back evil." Wait for the Lord, and he will save you.

²³The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.

²⁴A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?

²⁵It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.

²⁶A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spirit of man is the Lord's lamp, searching all his innermost parts.

²⁸Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.

³⁰Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.