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37 On hearing it, King Hizkiyahu tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Adonai. 2 He sent Elyakim, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and the leading cohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hizkiyahu says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke and disgrace. Children are ready to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. 4 Maybe Adonai your God will hear the words of Rav-Shakeh, whom his master the king of Ashur has sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke the message which Adonai your God has heard. So pray for the remnant that is left.’”
5 When King Hizkiyahu’s servants came to Yesha‘yahu, 6 he said to them, “Tell your master that this is what Adonai says: ‘Don’t be afraid of the words you heard the servants of the king of Ashur use to insult me. 7 I will put a spirit in him that will make him hear a rumor and return to his own land; then I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land.’”
8 Rav-Shakeh returned and, having heard that the king of Ashur had left Lakhish, found him making war with Livnah. 9 Then he heard it said that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was on his way to fight him. On hearing this, the king of Ashur sent messengers to Hizkiyahu, after ordering them, 10 “This is what you are to say to Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Yerushalayim will not be handed over to the power of the king of Ashur.” 11 You have heard what the kings of Ashur have done to all lands — they have completely destroyed them. So how will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them? No, my ancestors destroyed them — Gozan, Haran, Retzef and the people of ‘Eden who were in Tel’asar. 13 Where is the king of Hamat? the king of Arpad? the king of the city of S’farvayim, of Hena and ‘Ivah?’” 14 Hizkiyahu took the letter from the messengers’ hands and read it. Then Hizkiyahu went up to the house of Adonai and spread it out before Adonai. 15 This is the prayer that Hizkiyahu prayed to Adonai: 16 “Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of Isra’el, who dwells above the k’ruvim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. 17 Turn your ear, Adonai, and hear! Open your eyes, Adonai, and see! Hear all the words that Sancheriv sent to taunt the living God. 18 It is true that the kings of Ashur have laid waste all the countries and their lands 19 and have thrown their gods into the fire. For those were non-gods, merely the products of people’s hands, wood and stone; this is why they could destroy them. 20 Now therefore, Adonai our God, save us from his power — so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you are Adonai — you only.”
21 Then Yesha‘yahu the son of Amotz sent this message to Hizkiyahu: “Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘You prayed to me against Sancheriv king of Ashur.’ 22 Here is Adonai’s answer concerning him:
“ ‘The virgin daughter of Tziyon
despises you; she laughs you to scorn.
The daughter of Yerushalayim
shakes her head at you.
23 Whom have you taunted and insulted?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
The Holy One of Isra’el!
24 “ ‘Through your servants you taunted Adonai.
You said, “With my many chariots
I have ascended the mountain heights
even in the far reaches of the L’vanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best cypress trees.
I reached its remotest heights
and its best forests.
25 I dug [wells] and drank the water.
The soles of my [soldiers’] feet
dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”
26 “ ‘Haven’t you heard? Long ago I made it;
in antiquity I produced it;
and now I am making it happen:
you are turning fortified cities
into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of power,
are disheartened and ashamed,
weak as grass, frail as plants,
like grass on the rooftops
or grain scorched by the east wind.
28 “ ‘But I know when you sit, when you leave,
when you enter — and when you rage against me.
29 And because of your rage against me,
because of your pride that has reached my ears,
I am putting my hook in your nose
and my bridle on your lips;
and I will make you return
by the way on which you came.
30 “ ‘This will be the sign for you [people of Isra’el]: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 “ ‘Meanwhile, the remnant
of the house of Y’hudah that has escaped
will again take root downward
and bear fruit upward;
32 for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim,
those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon.
The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot
will accomplish this.’
33 “Therefore this is what Adonai says concerning the king of Ashur:
“ ‘He will not come to this city
or even shoot an arrow there;
he will not confront it with a shield
or erect earthworks against it.
34 “ ‘By the way he came he will return;
he will not come to this city,’
says Adonai. 35 ‘For I will defend this city and save it, both for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’ ”
36 Then the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of Ashur. Early the next morning, there they were, all of them, corpses — dead. 37 So Sancheriv king of Ashur left, went and returned to live in Ninveh.
38 One day, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisrokh his god, his sons Adramelekh and Shar’etzer struck him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. So his son Esar-Hadon took his place as king.
38 Around this time Hizkiyahu became ill to the point of death. Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz, came and said to him, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not live.’” 2 Hizkiyahu turned his face toward the wall and prayed to Adonai: 3 “I plead with you, Adonai, remember now how I have lived before you truly and wholeheartedly, and how I have done what you see as good.” And he cried bitter tears.
4 Then the word of Adonai came to Yesha‘yahu: 5 “Go and tell Hizkiyahu that this is what Adonai, the God of David your ancestor, says: ‘I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; therefore I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 Also I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Ashur; I will defend this city. 7 The sign for you from Adonai that Adonai will do what he said is 8 that I will cause the shadow of the sundial, which has started going down on the sundial of Achaz, to go backward ten intervals.’” So the sun went back ten intervals of the distance it had already gone down.
9 After Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah had been ill and had recovered, he wrote the following:
10 “I once said: ‘In the prime of life
I am going off to the gates of Sh’ol.
I am being deprived of living out
the full span of my life.’
11 “I said, ‘I will never again see Yah,
Yah in the land of the living;
I will look on human beings no more
or be with those who live in this world.
12 My home is uprooted and taken away
from me like a shepherd’s tent.
Like a weaver, I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom.
Between day and night you could finish me off.
13 I try to be strong like a lion till morning,
but still my illness breaks all my bones —
between day and night you could finish me off.
14 I make little chattering sounds like a swallow,
I moan aloud like a dove,
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
Adonai, I am overwhelmed; guarantee my life!’
15 “What is there that I can say?
He has spoken to me and acted!
I will go humbly all my years,
remembering how bitter I was.
16 Adonai, by these things people live;
in all these is the life of my spirit.
You’re restoring my health and giving me life —
17 though instead of peace, I felt very bitter.
You desired my life and preserved it
from the nothingness pit;
for you threw all my sins behind your back.
18 “Sh’ol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you;
those descending to the pit cannot hope for your truth.
19 The living, the living — they can thank you,
as I do today;
fathers will make their children know
about your faithfulness.
20 Adonai is ready to save me;
hence we will make our stringed instruments sound
all the days of our life
in the house of Adonai.”
21 Then Yesha‘yahu said, “Have them take a fig-plaster and apply it to the inflammation, and he will recover.” 22 Hizkiyahu asked, “What sign will there be that I will be able to go up to the house of Adonai?”
6 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too. 2 Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself. 4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else; 5 for each person will carry his own load. 6 But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor. 7 Don’t delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows. 8 Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. 9 So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest. 10 Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.
11 Look at the large letters I use as I close in my own handwriting.
12 It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiah’s execution-stake. 13 For even those who are getting circumcised don’t observe the Torah. On the contrary, they want you to get circumcised so that they can boast of having gained your adherence. 14 But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake.
15 For neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is being a new creation. 16 And as many as order their lives by this rule, shalom upon them and mercy, and upon the Isra’el of God!
17 From now on, I don’t want anyone to give me any more tsuris, because I have scars on my body to prove that I belong to Yeshua!
18 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
65 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David. A song:
2 (1) To you, God, in Tziyon, silence is praise;
and vows to you are to be fulfilled.
3 (2) You who listen to prayer,
to you all living creatures come.
4 (3) When deeds of wickedness overwhelm me,
you will atone for our crimes.
5 (4) How blessed are those you choose and bring near,
so that they can remain in your courtyards!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the Holy Place of your temple.
6 (5) It is just that you answer us with awesome deeds,
God of our salvation,
you in whom all put their trust,
to the ends of the earth and on distant seas.
7 (6) By your strength you set up the mountains.
You are clothed with power.
8 (7) You still the roaring of the seas,
their crashing waves, and the peoples’ turmoil.
9 (8) This is why those living at the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your signs.
The places where the sun rises and sets
you cause to sing for joy.
10 (9) You care for the earth and water it,
you enrich it greatly;
with the river of God, full of water,
you provide them grain and prepare the ground.
11 (10) Soaking its furrows and settling its soil,
you soften it with showers and bless its growth.
12 (11) You crown the year with your goodness,
your tracks overflow with richness.
13 (12) The desert pastures drip water,
the hills are wrapped with joy,
14 (13) the meadows are clothed with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain,
so they shout for joy and break into song.
24 A righteous person’s father will be filled with joy;
yes, he whose son is wise will rejoice in him.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.