1 In the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, the king of Israel: Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, reigned as king of Judah.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did what was good before the Lord, in accord with all that his father David had done.
4 He destroyed the high places, and he crushed the statues, and he cut down the sacred groves. And he broke apart the bronze serpent, which Moses had made. For even until that time, the sons of Israel were burning incense to it. And he called its name Nehushtan.
5 He hoped in the Lord, the God of Israel. And after him, there was no one similar to him, among all the kings of Judah, nor even among any of those who were before him.
6 And he clung to the Lord, and he did not withdraw from his footsteps, and he carried out his commandments, which the Lord had instructed to Moses.
7 Therefore, the Lord was also with him. And he conducted himself wisely in all the things to which he went forth. Also, he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and he did not serve him.
8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza, and in all their borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
9 In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, the king of Israel: Shalmaneser, the king of the Assyrians, ascended to Samaria, and he fought against it,
10 and he seized it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Israel, Samaria was captured.
11 And the king of the Assyrians took away Israel into Assyria. And he located them in Halah and in Habor, at the rivers of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.
12 For they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant. All that Moses, the servant of the Lord, had instructed, they would neither hear, nor do.
13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, went up to all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them.
14 Then Hezekiah, the king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians at Lachish, saying: “I have offended. Withdraw from me, and all that you will impose upon me, I will bear.” And so the king of the Assyrians levied a tax upon Hezekiah, the king of Judah, of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver that had been found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king.
16 At that time, Hezekiah broke apart the doors of the temple of the Lord, with the plates of gold which he had affixed to them. And he gave these to the king of the Assyrians.
17 Then the king of the Assyrians sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish, to king Hezekiah, with a powerful hand, to Jerusalem. And when they had ascended, they arrived in Jerusalem, and they stood beside the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is along the way of the fuller’s field.
18 And they called for the king. But there went out to them Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the first ruler of the house, and Shebnah, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the keeper of records.
19 And Rabshakeh said to them: “Speak to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this faith, in which you strive?
20 Perhaps, you have taken counsel, so that you would prepare yourself for battle. In whom do you trust, so that you would dare to rebel?
21 Do you hope in Egypt, that staff of a broken reed, which, if a man would lean upon it, breaking, it would pierce his hand? Such is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who would trust in him.
22 But if you say to me: ‘We have faith in the Lord, our God.’ Is it not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away? And did he not instruct Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You shall adore before this altar in Jerusalem?’
23 Now therefore, cross over to my lord, the king of the Assyrians, and I will give to you two thousand horses, and we will see if you even have enough riders for them.
24 So how can you resist one prince from the least of my lord’s servants? Do you have faith in Egypt because of the chariots and horsemen?
25 Is it not by the will of the Lord that I have chosen to ascend to this place, so that I may destroy it? The Lord said to me: ‘Ascend to this land, and destroy it.’ “
26 Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh: “We beseech you, that you may speak to us, your servants, in Syriac. For we understand that language to some extent. And do not speak to us in the Jews’ language, in the hearing of the people, who are upon the wall.”
27 And Rabshakeh responded to them, saying: “Has my lord sent me to your lord and to you, so that I may speak these words, and not instead to the men who are sitting upon the wall, so that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?”
28 And so, Rabshakeh stood up, and he exclaimed in a great voice, in the Jews’ language, and he said: “Listen to the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians.
29 Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah lead you astray. For he will not be able to rescue you from my hand.
30 And do not let him give you faith in the Lord, saying: ‘The Lord will rescue and free us, and this city will not be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.’
31 Do not choose to listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of the Assyrians: Do with me what is for your own good, and come out to me. And each one of you will eat from his own vine, and from his own fig tree. And you shall drink water from your own wells,
32 until I arrive and transfer you into a land, similar to your own land, a fruitful and fertile land of wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives and oil and honey. And you will live, and not die. Do not choose to listen to Hezekiah, who deceives you, saying: ‘The Lord will free us.’
33 Have any of the gods of the nations freed their land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Avva? Have they freed Samaria from my hand?
35 Which ones among all the gods of the lands have rescued their region from my hand, so that the Lord would be able to rescue Jerusalem from my hand?”
36 But the people were silent, and they did not respond at all to him. For indeed, they had received an instruction from the king that they should not respond to him.
37 And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the first ruler of the house, and Shebnah, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the keeper of records, went to Hezekiah with their garments torn. And they reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.
1 And when king Hezekiah had heard this, he tore his garments, and he covered himself with sackcloth, and he entered the house of the Lord.
2 And he sent Eliakim, the first ruler of the house, and Shebnah, the scribe, and the elders from the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
3 And they said to him: “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy. The sons are ready to be born, but the woman in labor does not have the strength.
4 Perhaps the Lord, your God, may hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians, his lord, sent so that he would reproach the living God, and rebuke with words, which the Lord, your God, has heard. And so, offer a prayer on behalf of the remnant that has been found.”
5 And the servants of king Hezekiah went to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them: “So shall you say to your lord. Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid before the face of the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a spirit to him, and he will hear a report, and he will return to his own land. And I will bring him down by the sword in his own land.”
8 Then Rabshakeh returned, and he found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Libnah. For he had heard that he had withdrawn from Lachish.
9 And when he had heard from Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia, saying, “Behold, he has gone out so that he may fight against you,” and when he went forth against him, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:
10 So shall you say to Hezekiah, the king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom you trust, lead you astray. And you should not say, ‘Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.’
11 For you yourself have heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands, the manner in which they have laid waste to them. Therefore, how would you alone be able to be freed?
12 Have the gods of the nations freed any of those whom my fathers have destroyed, such as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who were at Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena, and of Avva?”
14 And so, when Hezekiah had received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he ascended to the house of the Lord, and he spread it out before the Lord.
15 And he prayed in his sight, saying: “O Lord, God of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, you alone are God, over all the kings of the earth. You made heaven and earth.
16 Incline your ear, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, who sent so that he might reproach the living God before us.
17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have devastated all peoples and lands.
18 And they have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but instead were the works of men’s hands, out of wood and stone. And so they destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, bring us salvation from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord God.”
20 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard what you beseeched from me, concerning Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians.
21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken about him: The virgin daughter of Zion has spurned and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back.
22 Whom have you reproached, and whom have you blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By the hand of your servants, you have reproach the Lord, and you have said: ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the summit of Lebanon. And I have cut down its sublime cedars, and its elect spruce trees. And I have entered even to its limits. And its forest of Carmel,
24 I have cut down. And I drank foreign waters, and I dried up all the enclosed waters with the steps of my feet.’
25 But have you not heard what I have done from the beginning? From the days of antiquity, I have formed it, and now I have brought it to be. And fortified cities of fighting men will become piles of ruins.
26 And whoever may settle in these, they have trembled, with a weak hand, and they have been confounded. They have become like the hay of the field, and like weeds sprouting on the rooftops, which dry up before they reached maturity.
27 Your habitation, and your exit, and your entrance, and your way, I knew beforehand, along with your fury against me.
28 You have been maddened against me, and your arrogance has ascended to my ears. And so, I will place a ring in your nose, and a bit between your lips. And I will lead you back along the way by which you came.
29 But as for you, Hezekiah, this shall be a sign: Eat this year whatever you will find, and in the second year, whatever may spring up of itself. But in the third year, sow and reap; plant vineyards, and eat from their fruit.
30 And whatever will have been left behind, from the house of Judah, shall send a root downward, and shall bear fruit upward.
31 Indeed, a remnant shall go forth from Jerusalem, and what may be saved shall go forth from mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall accomplish this.
32 For this reason, thus says the Lord about the king of the Assyrians: He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor overtake it with the shield, nor encircle it with fortifications.
33 By the way that he came, so shall he return. And he shall not enter this city, says the Lord.
34 And I will protect this city, and I will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 And so it happened that, in the same night, an Angel of the Lord went and struck down, in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he had risen up, at first light, he saw all the bodies of the dead. And withdrawing, he went away.
36 And Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, returned and dwelled in Nineveh.
37 And while he was worshipping in the temple of his god, Nisroch, his sons, Adram-melech and Sharezer, struck him with the sword. And they fled into the land of the Armenians. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.
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15 But the priests and the Levites who are the sons of Zadok, who observed the ceremonies of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw near to me, so that they may minister for me. And they shall stand in my sight, so that they may offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.
16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table, so that they may minister for me, and so that they may observe my ceremonies.
17 And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. Neither shall anything woolen be placed over them, when they minister within the gates of the inner and the outer court.
18 They shall have linen bands on their heads, and linen undergarments over their loins, and they shall not be girded so as to sweat.
19 And when they go forth to the outer court to the people, they shall strip off their vestments, in which they ministered, and they shall place them in the storeroom of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments. And they shall not sanctify the people in their vestments.
20 Now they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not grow long hair. Instead, they shall trim the hair of their heads.
21 And no priest shall drink wine, when he will be entering into the inner court.
22 And they shall not take as wife a widow or one who has been divorced. Instead, they shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel. But they may also take a widow, if she is the widow of a priest.
23 And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and defiled, and they shall distinguish for them between clean and unclean.
24 And when there has been a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and they shall judge. They shall observe my laws and my precepts, in all my solemnities, and they shall sanctify my Sabbaths.
25 And they shall not enter to a dead person, lest they be defiled, except to father or mother, or son or daughter, or brother, or to a sister who does not have another man. By these, they may become unclean.
26 And after he will have been cleansed, they shall number for him seven days.
27 And on the day when he enters into the sanctuary, to the inner court, so that he may minister to me in the sanctuary, he shall make an offering because of his offense, says the Lord God.
28 And there shall be no inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. And you shall not give them any possession in Israel. For I am their possession.
29 They shall eat the victim both for sin and for offenses. And every vowed offering in Israel shall be theirs.
30 And the first-fruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations out of all that is offered, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the first-fruits of your foods to the priest, so that he may return a blessing to your house.
31 The priests shall not consume anything which has died on its own, or which was seized by a beast, whether from the fowl or the cattle.”
11 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee?
12 Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth in destruction?
13 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness?
14 But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee.
15 Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me?
16 I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled.
17 Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.
18 They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together.
19 Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance, because of misery.
1 And after these things had happened, having reluctantly parted from them, we sailed a direct course, arriving at Cos, and on following the day at Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
2 And when we had found a ship sailing across to Phoenicia, climbing aboard, we set sail.
3 Then, after we had caught sight of Cyprus, keeping it to the left, we sailed on to Syria, and we arrived at Tyre. For the ship was going to unload its cargo there.
4 Then, having found the disciples, we lodged there for seven days. And they were saying to Paul, through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
5 And when the days were completed, setting out, we went on; and they all accompanied us with their wives and children, until we were outside of the city. And we kneeled down at the shore and prayed.
6 And when we had said farewell to one another, we climbed aboard the ship. And they returned to their own.
7 Yet truly, having completed our journey by boat from Tyre, we descended to Ptolemais. And greeting the brothers, we lodged with them for one day.
8 Then, after setting out the next day, we arrived at Caesarea. And upon entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.
9 Now this man had four daughters, virgins, who were prophesying.
10 And while we were delayed for some days, a certain prophet from Judea, named Agabus, arrived.
11 And he, when he had come to us, took Paul’s belt, and binding his own feet and hands, he said: “Thus says the Holy Spirit: The man whose belt this is, the Jews will bind in this way at Jerusalem. And they will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
12 And when we had heard this, both we and those who were from that place begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul responded by saying: “What do you accomplish by weeping and afflicting my heart? For I am prepared, not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
14 And since we were not able to persuade him, we quieted, saying: “May the will of the Lord be done.”
