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CAP 38
1 In tho daies Esechie was sijk `til to the deth; and Isaie, the profete, the sone of Amos, entride to hym, and seide to hym, The Lord seith these thingis, Dispose thi hous, for thou schalt die, and thou schalt not lyue.
2 And Esechie turnede his face to the wal, and preiede the Lord, and seide, Lord, Y biseche;
3 haue thou mynde, Y biseche, hou Y yede bifore thee in treuthe, and in perfit herte, and Y dide that that was good bifore thin iyen. And Ezechye wept with greet wepyng.
4 And the word of the Lord was maad to Isaie, and seide,
5 Go thou, and seie to Ezechye, The Lord God of Dauid, thi fadir, seith these thingis, I haue herd thi preier, and Y siy thi teeris. Lo! Y schal adde on thi daies fiftene yeer;
6 and Y schal delyuere thee and this citee fro the hond of the kyng of Assiriens, and Y schal defende it.
7 Forsothe this schal be to thee a signe of the Lord, that the Lord schal do this word, which he spak.
8 Lo! Y schal make the schadewe of lynes, bi which it yede doun in the orologie of Achas, in the sunne, to turne ayen backward bi ten lynes. And the sunne turnede ayen bi ten lynes, bi degrees bi whiche it hadde go doun.
9 The scripture of Ezechie, kyng of Juda, whanne he hadde be sijk, and hadde rekyuered of his sikenesse.
10 I seide, in the myddil of my daies Y schal go to the yatis of helle.
11 Y souyte the residue of my yeeris; Y seide, Y schal not se the Lord God in the lond of lyueris; Y schal no more biholde a man, and a dwellere of reste.
12 My generacioun is takun awei, and is foldid togidere fro me, as the tabernacle of scheepherdis is foldid togidere. Mi lijf is kit doun as of a webbe; he kittide doun me, the while Y was wouun yit. Fro the morewtid `til to the euentid thou schalt ende me;
13 Y hopide til to the morewtid; as a lioun, so he al to-brak alle my boonys. Fro the morewtid til to the euentid thou schalt ende me; as the brid of a swalewe, so Y schal crie;
14 Y schal bithenke as a culuer. Myn iyen biholdynge an hiy, ben maad feble. Lord, Y suffre violence, answere thou for me; what schal Y seie,
15 ether what schal answere to me, whanne `I mysilf haue do? Y schal bithenke to thee alle my yeeris, in the bitternisse of my soule.
16 Lord, if me lyueth so, and the lijf of my spirit is in siche thingis, thou schalt chastise me, and schalt quykene me.
17 Lo! my bitternesse is moost bittir in pees; forsothe thou hast delyuered my soule, that it perischide not; thou hast caste awey bihynde thi bak alle my synnes.
18 For not helle schal knowleche to thee, nethir deth schal herie thee; thei that goon doun in to the lake, schulen not abide thi treuthe.
19 A lyuynge man, a lyuynge man, he schal knouleche to thee, as and Y to dai; the fadir schal make knowun thi treuthe to sones.
20 Lord, make thou me saaf, and we schulen synge oure salmes in all the daies of oure lijf in the hous of the Lord.
21 And Ysaie comaundide, that thei schulden take a gobet of figus, and make a plaster on the wounde; and it schulde be heelid.
22 And Ezechie seide, What signe schal be, that Y schal stie in to the hous of the Lord?