Sirach 48:17-22

Common English Bible

¹⁷ Hezekiah strengthened
the city’s defenses,
    and he provided a water supply.
    He tunneled through rock
    with iron tools,
    and he constructed storage tanks
    for water.
¹⁸ During his rule,
Sennacherib moved on Jerusalem,^[a]
    commissioned the field commander,
    and departed.
        The field commander attacked Zion,
        and made great boasts
        in his arrogance.
¹⁹ Then the people’s hearts and hands
were shaken,
    and they were in agony
    like a woman who is in labor.
²⁰ They called upon the Lord
who is merciful,
        reaching out their hands to him.
    The holy one at once heard them
    from heaven,
        and he rescued them through Isaiah.
²¹ The Lord struck down
the camp of the Assyrians,
    and his messenger destroyed them.
²² Hezekiah did what was pleasing
to the Lord,
    and he kept to the ways of David
    his ancestor,
        as Isaiah the prophet, who was great
        and whose visions were reliable,
        had commanded.