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16 The people who were left were few in number,
    under a ruler from the house of David.
Some of them did what was right,
    but others continued to sin, and to a far greater extent.

Hezekiah, the Faithful King, and Isaiah, the Great Prophet[a]

17 Hezekiah fortified his city
    and brought water into it;
with iron tools he cut through the rock
    and built cisterns to hold the water.
18 During his reign Sennacherib invaded the country
    and sent Rabshakeh,[b] his commander.
He shook his fist against Zion,
    and in his arrogance he boasted loudly.

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Footnotes

  1. Wisdom of Ben Sira 48:17 All seems lost when in 701 B.C., Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem. But the prophet Isaiah adjures the king not to weaken and to trust in God. The Assyrian army suddenly lifts the siege, doubtless because of being decimated by an epidemic (2 Ki 18:17—19:37; Isa 36–37). At the end of this passage, allusion is made to the second part of Isaiah, the Book of Consolation (Isa 40).
  2. Wisdom of Ben Sira 48:18 Rabshakeh: this is not a proper name but the title of the epic song.