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separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he had done: and they departed not from them, till the Lord removed Israel from His face, as He had spoken in the hand of all His servants the prophets and Israel was carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.

And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. And when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them.

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And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and it was said: The nations which thou hast removed, and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land and the Lord hath sent lions among them: and behold they kill them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from thence captive, and let him go, and dwell with them and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of the land. So one of the priests, who had been carried away captive from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should worship the Lord. And every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the temples of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt. For the men of Babylon made Sochothbenoth and the Cuthites made Nergel: and the men of Emath made Asima: and the Hevites made Nebahaz and Tharthac. And they that were of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire, to Adramelech and Anamelech the gods of Sepharvaim: and nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made to themselves, of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places, and they placed them in the temples of the high places. And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own gods. according to the custom of the nations out of which they were brought to Samaria.

NOTE ON THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.

The kingdom of Israel lasted from the reign of Jeroboam to the captivity, 255 years. During this time it had been governed by 19 kings, many of whom seized the kingdom by violence, and reigned a very short time. None of them were good men, but Jehu and the

last king Osee were the best. The captives never returned, so as to establish themselves again in Palestine, but were dispersed among the nations, and thus the ten tribes are said to have been lost.' The mixed people who lived in Samaria and the country about it were from that time called Samaritans. The people of the kingdom of Juda, called from this Jews, hated them, and would have no dealings with them, because they mixed up the worship of God with idolatry, and they in turn hated the Jews.

SECT. XCIV. THE KING OF ASSYRIA INVADES JUDA. THE DESTRUCTION
OF HIS ARMY.

The King of Assyria attacks Juda.-After these things 2 Par. and events, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came and entered xxxii. 1-8. into Juda, and besieged the fenced cities, desiring to take them. And when Ezechias saw that Sennacherib was come, and that the whole force of the war was turning against Jerusalem, he took counsel with the princes and the most valiant men, to stop up the heads of the springs that were without the city and as they were all of this mind, he gathered together a very great multitude, and they stopped up all the springs and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying: Lest the kings of the Assyrians should come, and find abundance of water. He built up also with great diligence all the wall that had been broken down, and built towers upon it, and another wall without and he repaired Mello in the city of David, and made all sorts of arms and shields: and he appointed captains of the soldiers of the army: and he called them all together in the street of the gate of the city, and spoke to their heart, saying: Behave like men, and take courage: be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of the Assyrians, nor for all the multitude that is with him for there are many more with us than with him. For with him is an arm of flesh: with us the Lord our God, Who is our helper, and fighteth for us. And the people were encour

aged with these words of Ezechias king of Juda.

In the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, Sennacherib king 4 Kings of the Assyrians came up against the fenced cities of Juda, and XVIII. took them. Then Ezechias king of Juda sent messengers to the 13-37. king of the Assyrians to Lachis, saying: I have offended; depart from me, and all that thou shalt put upon me I will bear. And the king of the Assyrians put a tax upon Ezechias king of Juda, of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Ezechias gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the king's treasures. At that time Ezechias broke the doors of the temple of the Lord, and the

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plates of gold which he had fastened on them, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.

And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh from Lachis to king Ezechias with a strong army to Jerusalem: and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the way of the fuller's field.* And they called for the king:

and there went out to them Eliacim the son of Helcias who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder.

Speech of Rabshakeh.-And Rabshakeh said to them: Speak to Ezechias: Thus saith the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence, wherein thou trustest? Perhaps thou hast taken counsel, to prepare thyself for battle. On whom dost thou trust, that thou darest to rebel? Dost thou trust in Egypt, a staff of a broken reed, upon which if a man lean, it will break and go into his hand, and pierce it? so is Pharao king of Egypt, to all that trust in him. But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it not He whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away: and hath commanded Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? Now therefore come over to my master the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, and see whether you be able to have riders for them. And how can you stand against one lord of the least of my master's servants? Dost thou trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen ? Is it without the will of the Lord that I am come up to this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land and destroy it.

Then Eliacim the son of Helcias, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabshakeh : We pray thee speak to us thy servants in Syriac, for we understand that tongue: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the hearing of the people that are upon the wall.

And Rabshakeh answered them, saying: Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak these words, and not rather to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung . with you? Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians. Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you: for he shall

*Notwithstanding the vast sums paid to secure peace the king of Assyria carried on war.

He tries to frighten them by picturing to them the dreadful extremities of famine they would suffer.

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not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Neither let him
make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely
deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the
king of the Assyrians. Do not hearken to Ezechias. For thus
saith the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for
your advantage, and come out to me and every man of you
shall eat of his own vineyard and of his own fig-tree and you
shall drink water of your own cisterns, till I come and take you
away to a land, like to your own land, a fruitful land, and
plentiful in wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olives
and oil and honey, and you shall live and not die. Hearken
not to Ezechias, who deceiveth you, saying: The Lord will
deliver us.
Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their
land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where is the god
of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of Sepharvaim, of
Ana, and of Ava? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Who are they among all the gods of the nations that have
delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord may
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word for they had received commandment from the king that they should not answer him. And Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Ezechias, with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Ezechias and Isaias.—And when king Ezechias heard these 4 Kings words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sack-cloth, xix. 1-37. and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliacim, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the prophet the son of Amos, and they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength. It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and to reprove with words which the Lord thy God hath heard: and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found. So the servants of king Ezechias came to Isaias.

And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed Me. Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return into his own

country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own country.

And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachis. And when he heard of Theraca king of Ethiopia: Behold, he is come out to fight with thee: and was going against him, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying: Thus shall you say to Ezechias king of Juda: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest: and do not say: Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians. Behold thou hast heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all countries, how they have laid them waste: and canst thou alone be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them whom my fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thelassar? Where is the king of Emath and the king of Arphad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana and of Ava?

Prayer of Ezechias. And when Ezechias had received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord, and he prayed in His sight, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sitteth upon the cherubim, Thou alone art the God of all the kings of the earth: Thou madest heaven and earth: incline Thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, Thy eyes, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to upbraid the living God. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed nations, and the lands of them all. And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands of wood and stone, and they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord the only God.

And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I have heard the prayer thou hast made to Me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged her head behind thy back. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? against the Holy One of Israel. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up

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