Liber II Regum, 19

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

1. And when king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

2. et misit Eliachim præpositum domus et Sobnam scribam et senes de sacerdotibus opertos saccis ad Esajam prophetam filium Amos

2. And he sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloths, to Isaias the prophet the son of Amos,

3. qui dixerunt hæc dicit Ezechias dies tribulationis et increpationis et blasphemiæ dies iste venerunt filii usque ad partum et vires non habet parturiens

3. And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength.

4. si forte audiat Dominus Deus tuus universa verba Rabsacis quem misit rex Assyriorum dominus suus ut exprobraret Deum viventem et argueret verbis quæ audivit Dominus Deus tuus et fac orationem pro reliquiis quæ reppertæ sunt

4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and to reprove with words, which the Lord thy God hath heard: and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found.

5. venerunt ergo servi regis Ezechiæ ad Esajam

5. So the servants of king Ezechias came to Isaias.

6. dixitque eis Esajas hæc dicetis domino vestro hæc dicit Dominus noli timere a facie sermonum quos audisti quibus blasphemaverunt pueri regis Assyriorum me

6. And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

7. ecce ego inmittam ei spiritum et audiet nuntium et revertetur in terram suam et deiciam eum gladio in terra sua

7. Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return into his own country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own country.

8. reversus est igitur Rabsaces et invenit regem Assyriorum expugnantem Lobnam audierat enim quod recessisset de Lachis

8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

9. cumque audisset de Tharaca rege Æthiopiæ dicentes ecce egressus est ut pugnet adversum te et iret contra eum misit nuntios ad Ezechiam dicens

9. And when he heard of Theraca king of Ethiopia: Behold, he is come out to fight with thee: and was going against him, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:

10. hæc dicite Ezechiæ regi Judæ non te seducat Deus tuus in quo habes fiduciam neque dicas non tradetur Hierusalem in manu regis Assyriorum

10. Thus shall you say to Ezechias king of Juda: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest: and do not say: Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

11. tu enim ipse audisti quæ fecerint reges Assyriorum universis terris quomodo vastaverint eas num ergo solus poteris liberari

11. Behold thou hast heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all countries, how they have laid them waste: and canst thou alone be delivered?

12. numquid liberaverunt dii gentium singulos quos vastaverunt patres mei Gozan videlicet et Aran et Reseph et filios Eden qui erant in Thelassar

12. Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them, whom my fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar?

13. ubi est rex Emath et rex Arfad et rex civitatis Sepharvaim Ana et Ava

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?

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

14. And when Ezechias had received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord,

15. et oravit in conspectu ejus dicens Domine Deus Israël qui sedes super cherubin tu es Deus solus regum omnium terræ tu fecisti cælum et terram

15. And he prayed in his sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kings of the earth: thou madest heaven and earth:

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

16. Incline thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to upbraid unto us the living God.

17. vere Domine dissipaverunt reges Assyriorum gentes et terras omnium

17. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed nations, and the lands of them all.

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

18. And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not Rods, but the works of men's hands of wood and stone, and they destroyed them.

19. nunc igitur Domine Deus noster salvos nos fac de manu ejus ut sciant omnia regna terræ quia tu es Dominus Deus solus

19. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord the only God.

20. misit autem Esajas filius Amos ad Ezechiam dicens hæc dicit Dominus Deus Israël quæ deprecatus es me super Sennacherib rege Assyriorum audivi

20. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians.

21. iste est sermo quem locutus est Dominus de eo sprevit te et subsannavit virgo filia Sion post tergum tuum caput movit filia Hierusalem

21. This is the word, that 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 her head behind thy back.

22. cui exprobrasti et quem blasphemasti contra quem exaltasti vocem et elevasti in excelsum oculos tuos contra Sanctum Israël

22. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed? against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? 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 ejus electas abietes ejus et ingressus sum usque ad terminos ejus saltum Carmeli ejus

23. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus, and have cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees. And I have entered into the furthest parts thereof, and the forest of its Carmel.

24. ego succidi et bibi aquas alienas et siccavi vestigiis pedum meorum omnes aquas clausas

24. I have cut down, and I have drunk strange waters, and have dried up with the soles of my feet all the shut up waters.

25. numquid non audisti quid ab initio fecerim ex diebus antiquis plasmavi illud et nunc adduxi eruntque in ruinam collium pugnantium civitates munitæ

25. Hast thou not heard what I have done from the beginning? from the days of old I have formed it, and now I have brought it to effect: that fenced cities of fighting men should be turned to heaps of ruin:

26. et qui sedent in eis humiles manu contremuerunt et confusi sunt facti sunt quasi fænum agri et virens herba tectorum quæ arefacta est antequam veniret ad maturitatem

26. And the inhabitants of them, were weak of hand, they trembled and were confounded, they became like the grass of the field, and the green herb on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity.

27. habitaculum tuum et egressum tuum et viam tuam ego præscivi et furorem tuum contra me

27. Thy dwelling and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy way I knew before, and thy rage against me.

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

28. Thou hast been mad against me, and thy pride hath come 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.

29. tibi autem Ezechia hoc erit signum comede hoc anno quod reppereris in secundo autem anno quæ sponte nascuntur porro in anno tertio seminate et metite plantate vineas et comedite fructum earum

29. And to thee, O Ezechias, this shall be a sign: Eat this year what thou shalt find: and in the second year, such things as spring of themselves: but in the third year sow and reap: plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

30. et quodcumque reliquum fuerit de domo Juda mittet radicem deorsum et faciet fructum sursum

30. And whatsoever shall be left of the house of Juda, shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

31. de Hierusalem quippe egredientur reliquiæ et quod salvetur de monte Sion zelus Domini exercituum faciet hoc

31. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which shall be saved out of mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

32. quam ob rem hæc dicit Dominus de rege Assyriorum non ingredietur urbem hanc nec mittet in eam sagittam nec occupabit eam clypeus nec circumdabit eam munitio

32. Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.

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

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

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

34. And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for David my servant's sake.

35. factum est igitur in nocte illa venit angelus Domini et percussit castra Assyriorum centum octoginta quinque milia cumque diluculo surrexisset vidit omnia corpora mortuorum et recedens abiit

35. And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead.

36. et reversus est Sennacherib rex Assyriorum et mansit in Nineve

36. And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departing went away, and he re- turned and abode in Ninive.

37. cumque adoraret in templo Neserach deum suum Adramelech et Sarasar filii ejus percusserunt eum gladio fugeruntque in terram Armeniorum et regnavit Eseraddon filius ejus pro eo

37. And as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword, and they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.