In diebus illis ægrotavit Ezechias usque ad mortem; et introivit ad eum Isaias, filius Amos, propheta, et dixit ei: Hæc dicit Dominus: Dispone domui tuæ, quia morieris tu, et non vives.

And now Ezechias fell sick, and was at death’s door; indeed, the prophet Isaias, son of Amos, visited him with this message from the Lord, Put thy affairs in order; it is death that awaits thee, not recovery.

In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet came unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live.

Et convertit Ezechias faciem suam ad parietem, et oravit ad Dominum,

At this Ezechias turned his face towards the wall, and prayed to the Lord thus:

And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,

et dixit: Obsecro, Domine, memento, quæso, quomodo ambulaverim coram te in veritate et in corde perfecto, et quod bonum est in oculis tuis fecerim. Et flevit Ezechias fletu magno.

Remember, Lord, I entreat thee, a life that has kept true to thee, an innocent heart; how I did ever what was thy will. And Ezechias wept bitterly.

And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.

Et factum est verbum Domini ad Isaiam, dicens:

And thereupon the word of the Lord came to Isaias,

And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying:

Vade, et dic Ezechiæ: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus David patris tui: Audivi orationem tuam, et vidi lacrimas tuas; ecce ego adjiciam super dies tuos quindecim annos,

Go and tell Ezechias, Here is a message to thee from the Lord, the God of thy father David. I have listened to thy prayer, and marked thy tears; be it so, I will add fifteen years to thy life.

Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years:

et de manu regis Assyriorum eruam te, et civitatem istam, et protegam eam.

And I will save thee and thy city from the power of the Assyrian king; I will be its protector.

And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.

Hoc autem tibi erit signum a Domino, quia faciet Dominus verbum hoc quod locutus est:

This sign, too, the Lord gives thee, in proof that he will make his promise good;

And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word which he hath spoken:

ecce ego reverti faciam umbram linearum per quas descenderat in horologio Achaz in sole, retrorsum decem lineis. Et reversus est sol decem lineis per gradus quos descenderat.

see how low the shadow has fallen, with sun-down, where the dial of Achaz marks the hours! I will make it go ten hours back. And with that the sun retraced ten hours of its descent.

Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines backward. And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was gone down.

Scriptura Ezechiæ, regis Juda, cum ægrotasset et convaluisset de infirmitate sua.

These are the words Ezechias king of Juda wrote, upon falling sick and recovering of his illness.

The writing of Ezechias king of Juda, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness.

Ego dixi in dimidio dierum meorum: Vadam ad portas inferi; quæsivi residuum annorum meorum.

It seemed as if I must go down to the gates of the world beneath, in the noontide of my years; the remnant of life that I hoped for, hoped for in vain.

I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought for the residue of my years.

Dixi: Non videbo Dominum Deum in terra viventium; non aspiciam hominem ultra, et habitatorem quietis.

No more (thought I) to lift up my eyes to the Lord God in this land of the living, to see men’s faces, and quiet homes, no more!

I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.

Generatio mea ablata est, et convoluta est a me, quasi tabernaculum pastorum. Præcisa est velut a texente vita mea; dum adhuc ordirer, succidit me: de mane usque ad vesperam finies me.

This familiar world taken away from me, folded up like a shepherd’s tent, my life cut short like the weaver’s thread! And he had cut me off while the web was still in the making; before the day reached its evening, he would make an end of me.

My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd’s tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

Sperabam usque ad mane; quasi leo, sic contrivit omnia ossa mea: de mane usque ad vesperam finies me.

All night long I lay still, as if he had been a lion that had broken all my bones; before the day reached its evening he would make an end of me.

I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

Sicut pullus hirundinis, sic clamabo; meditabor ut columba. Attenuati sunt oculi mei, suspicientes in excelsum. Domine, vim patior: responde pro me.

My voice was as feeble as the voice of a nestling swallow or murmuring dove; my eyes wearied out with ever straining upwards. Lord, I am in hard straits; win my release for me!

I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me.

Quid dicam, aut quid respondebit mihi, cum ipse fecerit? Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos in amaritudine animæ meæ.

And yet, what words can I use, what answer can I expect, when it is he himself that has brought this upon me? With bitter heart I pass all my years in review.

What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he himself hath done it? I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

Domine, si sic vivitur, et in talibus vita spiritus mei, corripies me, et vivificabis me.

Lord, so frail a thing is life; on so little does my mortal breath depend! Thou canst chastise me, thou canst make me live.

O Lord, if man’s life be such, and the life of my spirit be in such things as these, thou shalt correct me, and make me to live.

Ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima. Tu autem eruisti animam meam ut non periret; projecisti post tergum tuum omnia peccata mea.

Bitter, bitter the discipline that brings me peace!And now thou hast saved the life that was in peril, thrusting away all my sins out of thy sight.

Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou hast delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

Quia non infernus confitebitur tibi, neque mors laudabit te: non exspectabunt qui descendunt in lacum veritatem tuam.

Thou hast no praise in the world beneath, death cannot honour thee; those who go down into the grave have no promise of thine to hope for;

For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.

Vivens, vivens ipse confitebitur tibi, sicut et ego hodie; pater filiis notam faciet veritatem tuam.

it is living men, as I am a living man to-day, that give thee thanks, pass on from father to son the story of thy faithfulness.

The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do this day: the father shall make the truth known to the children.

Domine, salvum me fac! et psalmos nostros cantabimus cunctis diebus vitæ nostræ in domo Domini.

Lord, be my saviour still; so, all day long, the Lord’s house shall ring with the music of our psalms.

O Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

Et jussit Isaias ut tollerent massam de ficis, et cataplasmarent super vulnus, et sanaretur.

Note that Isaias bade them take a lump of figs, and make a plaster of it for the king’s ulcer, and this is how he was healed.

Now Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs, and lay it as a plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed.

Et dixit Ezechias: Quod erit signum quia ascendam in domum Domini?

And note that Ezechias had asked what sign should be given him, in proof that he would set foot in the Lord’s house again.

And Ezechias had said: What shall be the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?