The Hebrew Prophets

And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thy anger towards Me.

Because of thy anger towards Me, And thy noise--it came up into Mine ears, I have put My hook in thy nose, And My bridle in thy lips, And I have caused thee to turn back In the way in which thou camest.

--And this to thee is the sign, Food of the year is self-sown grain, And in the second year the spontaneous growth, And in the third year, sow ye and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

And it hath continued--the escaped Of the house of Judah that hath been left--To take root beneath, And it hath made fruit upward.

For from Jerusalem goeth forth a remnant, And an escape from mount Zion, The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts doth this.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Concerning the king of Asshur: He doth not come in unto this city, Nor doth he shoot there an arrow, Nor doth he come before it with shield, Nor doth he pour out against it a mount.

In the way that he came, in it he turneth back, And unto this city he doth not come in, An affirmation of Jehovah,

And I have covered over this city, To save it, for Mine own sake, And for the sake of David My servant.'

And a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred and eighty and five thousand; and men rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them are dead corpses.

And journey, and go, and turn back doth Sennacherib king of Asshur, and dwelleth in Nineveh.

And it cometh to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons have smitten him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-Haddon his son reigneth in his stead.

In those days hath Hezekiah been sick unto death, and come in unto him doth Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, and saith unto him, `Thus said Jehovah: Give a charge to thy house, for thou art dying, and dost not live.'

And Hezekiah turneth round his face unto the wall, and prayeth unto Jehovah,

and saith, `I pray thee, O Jehovah, remember, I pray Thee, how I have walked habitually before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and that which is good in thine eyes I have done;' and Hezekiah weepeth--a great weeping.

And a word of Jehovah is unto Isaiah, saying,

Go, and thou hast said to Hezekiah, Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, `I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I am adding to thy days fifteen years,

and out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver thee and this city, and have covered over this city.

And this is to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah doth this thing that He hath spoken.

Lo, I am bringing back the shadow of the degrees that it hath gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, by the sun, backward ten degrees:' and the sun turneth back ten degrees in the degrees that it had gone down.

A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick, when he reviveth from his sickness:

`I--I said in the cutting off of my days, I go in to the gates of Sheol, I have numbered the remnant of mine years.

I said, I do not see Jah--Jah! In the land of the living, I do not behold man any more, With the inhabitants of the world.

My sojourning hath departed, And been removed from me as a shepherd's tent, I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, By weakness it cutteth me off, From day unto night Thou dost end me.

I have set Him till morning as a lion, So doth He break all my bones, From day unto night Thou dost end me.

As a crane--a swallow--so I chatter, I mourn as a dove, Drawn up have been mine eyes on high, O Jehovah, oppression is on me, be my surety.