Read the Bible

¹ In tho daies Ezechie was sijk `til to the deeth; and Isaie, the prophete, sone of Amos, cam to hym, and seide to hym, The Lord God seith these thingis, Comaunde to thin hows, for thou schalt die, and thou schalt not lyue.<sup>2</sup> Which Ezechie turnyde his face to the wal, and worschipide the Lord,<sup>3</sup> and seide, Y biseche, Lord, haue mynde, hou Y yede bifor thee in treuthe, and in a parfit herte, and Y dide that, that was plesaunt bifor thee. Therfor Ezechie wepte bi greet wepyng.<sup>4</sup> And bifor that Ysaie yede out half the part of the court, the word of the Lord was maad to Isaie, and seide,<sup>5</sup> Turne thou ayen, and seie to Ezechie, duyk of my puple, The Lord God of Dauid, thi fadir, seith thes thingis, Y herde thi preiere, and Y siy thi teer, and, lo! Y heelide thee. In the thridde dai thou schalt stie in to the temple of the Lord,<sup>6</sup> and Y schal adde fiftene yeer to thi daies; but also Y schal delyuere thee and this citee fro the hond of the kyng of Assiriens, and Y schal defende this citee for me, and for Dauid, my seruaunt.<sup>7</sup> And Ysaie seide, Brynge ye to me a gobet of figis. And whanne thei hadden brouyte it, and hadde putte on `his botche, he was heelid.⁸ Forsothe Ezechie seide to Isaie, What schal be the signe, that the Lord schal heele me, and that in the thridde dai Y schal stie in to the temple of the Lord?⁹ To whom Ysaie seide, This schal be `a signe of the Lord, that the Lord schal do the word which he spak; wolt thou, that the schadewe stie by ten lynes, ethir turne ayen bi so many degrees?¹⁰ And Ezechie seide, It is esy that the schadewe encreesse bi ten lynes, nethir Y wole that this be doon, but that it turne ayen bacward bi ten degrees.¹¹ Therfor Ysaie, the prophete, clepide inwardli the Lord, and brouyte ayen bacward bi ten degrees the schadewe bi lynes, bi whiche it hadde go doun thanne in the orologie of Achaz.

¹² In that tyme Beradacbaladan, sone of Baladam, the kyng of Babiloyne, sente lettris and yiftis to Ezechie; for he hadde herd that Ezechie was sijk, and hadde couerid.¹³ Forsothe Ezechie was glad in the comyng of hem, and he schewide to hem the hows of spyceries, and gold, and siluer, and dyuerse pymentis, also oynementis, and the hows of hise vessels, and alle thingis whiche he myyte haue in hise tresouris; `no word was, `which Ezechie schewide not to hem in his hows, and in al his power.¹⁴ Sotheli Ysaie, the prophete, cam to the kyng Ezechie, and seide to hym, What seiden these men, ether fro whennus camen thei to the? To whom Ezechie seide, Thei camen to me fro a fer lond, fro Babiloyne.¹⁵ And he answeride, What `sien thei in thin hows? Ezechie seide, Thei sien alle thingis, what euer thingis ben in myn hows; no thing is in my tresouris, which Y schewide not to hem.<sup>16</sup> Therfor Isaie seide to Ezechie, Here thou the word of the Lord.<sup>17</sup> Lo! dayes comen, and alle thingis that ben in thin hows, and `whiche thingis thi fadris maden til in to this dai, schulen be takun awey into Babiloyne; `not ony thing schal dwelle, seith the Lord.<sup>18</sup> But also of thi sones, that schulen go out of thee, whiche thou schalt gendere, schulen be takun, and thei schulen be geldyngis in the paleis of the king of Babiloyne.<sup>19</sup> Ezechie seide to Isaie, The word of the Lord, `which he spak, is good; ooneli pees and treuthe be in my daies.²⁰ Forsothe the residue of wordis of Ezechie, and al his strengthe, and hou he made a cisterne, and a watir cundijt, and brouyte watris, `in to the citee, whether these ben not writun in the book of wordis of daies of the kyngis of Juda?²¹ And Ezechie slepte with hise fadris, and Manasses, his sone, regnyde for hym.