of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?
37:14. And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and
read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it
before the Lord.
37:15. And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:
37:16. Lord of hosts, God of Israel who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou
alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made
heaven and earth.
37:17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and
see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to
blaspheme the living God.
37:18. For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid
waste lands, and their countries.
37:19. And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not
gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke
them in pieces.
37:20. And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the
kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.
37:21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith
the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me
concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:
37:22. This is the word which 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 the head after thee.
37:23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on
high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
37:24. 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 I will cut down its
tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its
height, to the forest of its Carmel.
Carmel... See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations
on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.
37:25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole
of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.
37:26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days
of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it
hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should
be destroyed.
37:27. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and
were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, an
|