American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.
I said, In the {Or, tranquility}noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol:I am deprived of the residue of my years.
I said, I shall not see {Hebrew: Jah.}Jehovah, even {Hebrew: Jah.}Jehovah in the land of the living:I shall behold man no more {Or, when I am among them that have ceased to be}with the inhabitants of the world.
My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent:I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the {Hebrew: thrum.}loom:From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
{Or, I thought until morning, As a lion, o will he break &c.}I quieted myself until morning; as a lion, so he breaketh all my bones:From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter;I did moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward:O Lord, I am oppressed, be thou my surety.
What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it:I shall go {Or, as in solemn procession See Psalm 42:4.}softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
O Lord, by these things men live;And wholly therein is the life of my spirit: {Or, So wilt thou recover me}Wherefore recover thou me, and make me to live.
Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness:But {Hebrew: thou hast loved my soul from the pit.}thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of {Or, nothingness}corruption;For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
For Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee:They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day:The father to the children shall make known thy truth.
Jehovah is ready to save me:Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instrumentsAll the days of our life in the house of Jehovah.
After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought {Hebrew: to break them up.}to win them for himself.
And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that {Hebrew: his face was to fight.}he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him.
So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?
And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and {The Vulgate has, built towers thereon.}raised it up to the towers, and {Or, another}the other wall without, and strengthened Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance.
And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,
Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for {Or, there are more}there is a greater with us than with him:
with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide {Or, in the stronghold}the siege in Jerusalem?
Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Jehovah our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and upon it shall ye burn incense?
Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand?
Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you after this manner, neither believe ye him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your {Or, gods}God deliver you out of my hand?
And his servants spake yet more against Jehovah God, and against his servant Hezekiah.
He wrote also {Or, a letter}letters, to rail on Jehovah, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.
And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city.
And they spake of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.
And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth from his own bowels {Hebrew: caused him to fall.}slew him there with the sword.
Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.
And many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
In those days Hezekiah was sick even unto death: and he prayed unto Jehovah; and he spake unto him, and gave him a {Or, wonder}sign.
But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for {Hebrew: the lifting up.}the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Jehovah came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor: and he provided him treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of goodly vessels;
store-houses also for the increase of grain and new wine and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and flocks in folds.
Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very much substance.
This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
Howbeit in the business of the {Hebrew: interpreters.}ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
But we behold him who hath been made {Or, for a little while lower}a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every man.
Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him {Or, out of}from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
for it is witnessed of him, {Psalms 110:4}Thou art a priest for everAfter the order of Melchizedek.
Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah;Behold my affliction which I suffer of them that hate me,Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;
He {Another reading is, afflicted me with his strength.}weakened my strength in the way;He shortened my days.
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days:Thy years are throughout all generations.
For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after:That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life,To behold {Or, the pleasantness}the beauty of Jehovah,And to {Or, consider his temple}inquire in his temple.
For we know that if the earthly house of our {Or, bodily frame Compare Wisd. 9:15}tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me.
Behold, Jehovah, {Or, O thou strong man}like a strong man, will hurl thee away violently; yea, he will {Or, lay fast hold on thee}wrap thee up closely.
He will surely wind thee round and round, and toss thee like a ball into a large country; there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariots of thy glory, thou shame of thy lord's house.
Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house,And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,Even thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts,My King, and my God.
And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him:
Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself;Who is there that will strike hands with me?
He will again have compassion upon us; he will {Or, subdue our iniquities}tread our iniquities under foot; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
And he said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better:
{Or, For}But as for me I know that my {Or, vindicator Hebrew: goel.}Redeemer liveth,And at last he will stand up upon the {Hebrew: dust.}earth:
{Or, And after my skin hath been thus destroyed, Yet from my flesh shall I see God}And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed,Then without my flesh shall I see God;
Whom I, even I, shall see, {Or, for myself}on my side,And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.My {Hebrew: reins.}heart is consumed within me.
As for me, {Or, let me}I shall behold thy face in righteousness; {Or, let me}I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form.
A seed shall serve him;It shall be {Or, counted unto the Lord for his generations}told of the Lord unto the next generation.
They shall come and shall declare his righteousnessUnto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it.
Yea, even {Hebrew: unto old age and gray hairs.}when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not,Until I have declared {Hebrew: thine arm.}thy strength unto the next generation,Thy might to every one that is to come.
Through him {Some ancient authorities omit then.}then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name.
ye also, as living stones, are built up a {Or, a spiritual house for a holy priesthood}spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: {Or, for such the Father also seeketh}for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers.