Liber II Regum, 19

1. Quae cum audisset rex Ezechias, scidit vestimenta sua et opertus est sacco ingressusque est domum Domini.

1. When King Hezeki'ah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2. Et misit Eliachim praepositum domus et Sobnam scribam et senes de sacerdotibus opertos saccis ad Isaiam prophetam filium Amos.

2. And he sent Eli'akim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.

3. Qui dixerunt: “Haec dicit Ezechias: Dies tribulationis et increpationis et blasphemiae dies iste; venerunt filii usque ad partum, et vires non habet parturiens.

3. They said to him, "Thus says Hezeki'ah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.

4. Forte audiet Dominus Deus tuus universa verba Rabsacis, quem misit rex Assyriorum dominus suus, ut exprobraret Deum viventem, et puniet verba, quae audivit Dominus Deus tuus; et fac orationem pro reliquiis, quae remanent”.

4. It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rab'shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock 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."

5. Venerunt ergo servi regis Ezechiae ad Isaiam.

5. When the servants of King Hezeki'ah came to Isaiah,

6. Dixitque eis Isaias: “Haec dicetis domino vestro: Haec dicit Dominus: Noli timere a facie sermonum, quos audisti, quibus blasphemaverunt pueri regis Assyriorum me;

6. Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, `Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.

7. ecce ego immittam ei spiritum, et audiet nuntium et revertetur in terram suam; et deiciam eum gladio in terra sua”.

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

8. Reversus est igitur Rabsaces et invenit regem Assyriorum oppugnantem Lobnam; audierat enim quod recessisset de Lachis.

8. The Rab'shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he heard that the king had left Lachish.

9. Cumque audisset de Tharaca rege Aethiopiae dicentes: “Ecce egressus est, ut pugnet adversum te”, iterum misit nuntios ad Ezechiam dicens:

9. And when the king heard concerning Tirha'kah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you," he sent messengers again to Hezeki'ah, saying,

10. “Haec dicite Ezechiae regi Iudae: Non te seducat Deus tuus, in quo habes fiduciam, neque dicas: “Non tradetur Ierusalem in manu regis Assyriorum”.

10. "Thus shall you speak to Hezeki'ah king of Judah: `Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11. Tu enim ipse audisti, quae fecerint reges Assyriorum universis terris, quomodo vastaverint eas. Num ergo solus poteris liberari?

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

12. Numquid liberaverunt dii gentium singulos, quos vastaverunt patres mei, Gozan videlicet et Charran et Reseph et filios Eden, qui erant in Thelassar?

12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar?

13. Ubi est rex Emath et rex Arphad et rex civitatis Sepharvaim, Ana et Ava?”.

13. Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharva'im, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

14. Itaque cum accepisset Ezechias litteras de manu nuntiorum et legisset eas, ascendit in domum Domini et expandit eas coram Domino

14. Hezeki'ah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezeki'ah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

15. et oravit in conspectu eius dicens: “Domine, Deus Israel, qui sedes super cherubim! Tu es Deus solus regnorum omnium terrae, tu fecisti caelum et terram.

15. And Hezeki'ah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

16. Inclina aurem tuam et audi; aperi, Domine, oculos tuos et vide et audi omnia verba Sennacherib, qui misit, ut exprobraret Deum viventem.

16. Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennach'erib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

17. Vere, Domine, dissipaverunt reges Assyriorum gentes et terras earum

17. Of a truth, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

18. et miserunt deos eorum in ignem; non enim erant dii, sed opera manuum hominum ex ligno et lapide, et perdiderunt eos.

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

19. Nunc igitur, Domine Deus noster, salvos nos fac de manu eius, ut sciant omnia regna terrae quia tu, Domine, es Deus solus”.

19. So now, O LORD our God, save us, I beseech thee, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou, O LORD, art God alone."

20. Misit autem Isaias filius Amos ad Ezechiam dicens: “Haec dicit Dominus, Deus Israel: Quae deprecatus es me super Sennacherib rege Assyriorum, audivi.

20. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezeki'ah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennach'erib king of Assyria I have heard.

21. Iste est sermo, quem locutus est Dominus de eo: Sprevit te et subsannavit virgo filia Sion; post tergum tuum caput movit filia Ierusalem.

21. This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: "She despises you, she scorns you -- the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you -- the daughter of Jerusalem.

22. Cui exprobrasti et quem blasphemasti? Contra quem exaltasti vocem et elevasti in excelsum oculos tuos? Contra Sanctum Israel!

22. "Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!

23. Per manum servorum tuorum exprobrasti Domino et dixisti: “In multitudine curruum meorum ascendi excelsa montium in summitate Libani et succidi sublimes cedros eius, electas abietes eius, et ingressus sum usque ad terminos eius, silvam condensam.

23. By your messengers you have mocked the LORD, and you have said, `With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest retreat, its densest forest.

24. Ego fodi et bibi aquas alienas et siccavi vestigiis pedum meorum omnes aquas Aegypti”.

24. I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.'

25. Numquid non audisti, ab initio quid fecerim? Ex diebus antiquis plasmavi illud et nunc adduxi; eruntque in eradicationem, in acervos ruinarum civitates munitae.

25. "Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins,

26. Et, qui sedent in eis breviata manu, contremuerunt et confusi sunt; facti sunt quasi fenum agri et gramen virens, herba tectorum, quae arefacta est, antequam veniret ad maturitatem.

26. while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field, and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops; blighted before it is grown?

27. Sessionem tuam et egressum tuum et introitum tuum ego praescivi et furorem tuum contra me;

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

28. insanisti in me, et superbia tua ascendit in aures meas. Ponam itaque circulum in naribus tuis et frenum in labris tuis et reducam te in viam, per quam venisti.

28. Because you have raged against me and your arrogance has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.

29. Tibi autem, Ezechia, hoc erit signum: Comede hoc anno, quod reppereris, in secundo autem anno, quae sponte nascuntur; porro in anno tertio seminate et metite, plantate vineas et comedite fructum earum.

29. "And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

30. Et, quodcumque reliquum fuerit de domo Iudae, mittet radicem deorsum et faciet fructum sursum;

30. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward;

31. de Ierusalem quippe egredientur reliquiae, et, quod relinquetur, de monte Sion. Zelus Domini exercituum faciet hoc.

31. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

32. Quam ob rem haec dicit Dominus de rege Assyriorum: Non ingredietur urbem hanc nec mittet in eam sagittam nec occurret ei clipeo nec fundet aggerem circa eam.

32. "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.

33. Per viam, qua venit, revertetur et civitatem hanc non ingredietur, dicit Dominus.

33. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the LORD.

34. Protegamque urbem hanc et salvabo eam propter me et propter David servum meum”.

34. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

35. Factum est igitur in nocte illa: egressus est angelus Domini et percussit in castris Assyriorum centum octoginta quinque milia. Cumque diluculo surrexissent, viderunt omnia corpora mortuorum.

35. And that night the angel of the LORD went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

36. Et recedens abiit et reversus est Sennacherib rex Assyriorum et mansit in Nineve.

36. Then Sennach'erib king of Assyria departed, and went home, and dwelt at Nin'eveh.

37. Cumque adoraret in templo Nesroch dei sui, Adramelech et Sarasar filii eius percusserunt eum gladio fugeruntque in terram Armeniorum. Et regnavit Asarhaddon filius eius pro eo.

37. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adram'melech and Share'zer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ar'arat. And Esarhad'don his son reigned in his stead.