In the noontide of my days I shall go into 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 habitation 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 loom. From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me: (I thought until morning) As a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me: 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 as in solemn procession all my years O Lord, by these things men live; And wholly therein is the life of my spirit: So wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold it was for my peace that 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 is 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.* *Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake 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? iii Hezekiah's Folly At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he 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 oil, 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 |