ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

I Said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to

the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in

the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants

of the world. Mine age is departed, and is removed from me

as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut

me off with pining sickness: From day even to night wilt thou make an end

of me.

I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he

break all my bones: From day even to night wilt thou make an end

of me.

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter:
I did mourn as a dove:
Mine eyes fail with looking upward:
O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me,
and himself hath done it:

C 231 ]

I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

O Lord, by these things men live,

And in all these things is the life of my spirit:

So wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

Behold, for peace I had great bitterness:

But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from

the pit of corruption: For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave 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.

The Lord was ready to save me: Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments

All the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?

At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said,They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

[ 233 ]

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,

That her warfare is accomplished,
That her iniquity is pardoned:
For she hath received of the Lord's hand double
for all her sins.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,

Make straight in the desert a highway for our
God.

Every valley shall be exalted,

And every mountain and hill shall be made low:

And the crooked shall be made straight,

And the rough places plain:

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together:

For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

The voice said, Cry.

And he said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass,

And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: .
Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it:
Surely the people is grass.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:

But the word of our God shall stand for ever.

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into

the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy

voice with strength; Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand,

And his arm shall rule for him:

Behold, his reward is with him,

And his work before him.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:

He shall gather the lambs with his arm,

And carry them in his bosom,

And shall gently lead those that are with young.

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

And meted out heaven with the span, And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,

And weighed the mountains in scales,

And the hills in a balance?

Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or being his counsellor hath taught him?

With whom took he counsel, and who instructed