¶ Ezechias is sycke and receyueth the sygne of his health by the dyall of Achaz. He receyueth rewar∣des of Berodach, and is reproued of Isai because he shewed hym the treasure. He dyeth and Manasses his sonne raygneth in his steade.
CAPI. XX.
[ A] * 1.1ABout that tyme Ezechias was sicke vn¦to the deathe. And the Prophete Isai sonne of Amoz came to him and sayde to him. Thus sayth the Lorde: put thyne housholde in an ordre, for thou shalt dye and not lyue. And Ezechias turned his face to the wall and besought the Lorde sayenge: Oh Lorde,* 1.2 remembre yet how I haue walked be¦fore the truely, and with a perfecte herte, and haue done that which is good in thy sight, and wept a great pace. And Isai was skarce gone out into the myddle of the cytie, but that the worde of the Lord came to him, sayeng: turne agayne and tel Ezechias the leader of my peo¦ple. Thus sayth the Lord God of Dauid thy father. I haue herde thy prayer and se•••• thy [ B] teares. Beholde I will hease the, and this daye thre dayes thou shalt go vp into ye house of the Lorde. And I will lenghten thy dayes yet fyftene yeres, and will delyuer bothe the and this cytie out of the hande of the kynge of Assiria, and will defende this cytie for myne owne sake, and for Dauid my seruaūtes sake. And Isai sayde: bringe a lumpe of fygges. And they brought and put it on the sore, and he recouered.
Then sayde Ezechias to Isai: What is the signe, that the Lorde will heale me, and that I shall go vp into the house of the Lorde the thirde daye? And Isai sayde: this signe shalt thou haue of the Lorde, that the Lorde will do that he hathe spoken: shall the shadowe go forwarde ten degrees, or go backe agayne ten degrees? And Ezechias sayde: It is a lyghte thing for the shadow to go downe ten degrees. Therfore I will not that: but let the shadow go backwarde ten degrees. And Isai the Pro¦phete called to the Lorde, and he brought ye shadowe ten degrees backwarde by whiche it had gone downe, in the dyall of Achaz.* 1.3
At this same season Berodach Baladan the sonne of Baladan kynge of Babylon sent let∣ters [ C] and presentes vnto Ezechias,* 1.4 for he herd that Ezechias was sicke. And Ezechias harke¦ned vnto them and shewed them al that was in the spycery house, and his siluer and golde and odoures and preciouse oyntementes and his armorye and all that was founde in his treasure: there was nothinge in his house or in all his realme, that he shewed them not.
Then came Isai the Prophete vnto kynge Ezechias and sayde to him: What saye these [ D] men and frome whence come they to the? And Ezechias sayde: they be come from a farre coū¦trey, euen frome Babilon. And he sayd: what haue they sene in thy house? And Ezechias sayde: all that is in my house haue they sene: there is nothinge amonge my treasure that I haue not shewed them. And Isai sayde to E¦zechias: Heare the worde of the Lorde. Be∣holde the daye shall come, that all that is in thyne house and that thy fathers haue layde vp in store vnto this daye, shall be caryed to Babilon, and nothinge shall be left sayth the Lorde.* 1.5 And of thy sonne that proceded out of the, which thou begatest, shall there be cary∣ed awaye, and shalbe made chamberlaynes in the palace of the kynge of Babilon. And Eze∣chias sayde to Isai: welcome be the worde of the Lorde which thou hast spokē: so that pear and trouthe be kept in my dayes.
The reste of the dedes of Ezechias, and all his power, and how he made a pole and a cō∣duit and brought the water into the cyty, are written in the boke of Chronicles of kynges of Iuba. And Ezechias layde him to rest with his fathers, and Manasses his sonne raygned in his stede.