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I will not cease blessing you with a psaltery all the days of my life before the house of God. The all-excellent king promises perpetual hymnody and attendance in the divine temple; and he foretells that he will also be a father of children, with divine grace clearly working with him. Some, taking this as a pretext, said that the blessed Hezekiah, knowing the promises made by God to David and that the royal line “will not fail” “until he comes to whom it belongs,” neglected childbearing because of his desire for life, for he supposed that he would not die before becoming a father of children; and for this reason God brought on the illness and gave the verdict of death, but after this, he says, he obtained divine philanthropy and, having received the gift of life, said: From now on I will beget children who will declare your righteousness, O Lord of my salvation. And this account has some plausibility, but to me it seems to follow a rash act of despair, especially since the divine scripture testifies to the king’s extreme righteousness; I think, therefore, that upon learning that he would live for fifteen years after his illness, he promised to give thought to childbearing, so that, having also raised them, he might leave successors to the kingdom. The prophet, however, urges him to pound a cake of figs and to anoint and apply it to the boil and obtain health. And the account teaches us not to reject the medical art; for it too is a gift of God. But it is fitting not to trust in the art but in its Giver; for it is capable of as much |147 a| as He wills. And often it heals great wounds through small medicines, but often it is found wanting through great ones, so that we may not trust in it, but in the one who gave it. 22And Hezekiah said: This is the sign that I will go up to the house of God. I am confident, he says, that I will both obtain health and worship the God of all in the divine temple. At that very time the king of the Babylonians, Merodach the son of Baladan, sent ambassadors and gifts and letters to king Hezekiah, having learned of both his illness and his health. But it must be asked from where he learned the things concerning him. But it is clear to those who are able to understand that those who had escaped the destruction brought upon the Assyrians proclaimed the strange and paradoxical wonder; and what followed, which was much greater and more paradoxical than that—I mean what happened with the sun—astonished the Babylonians even more. For they understood <that> he who, for the sake of the pious king, sent so many myriads to death without a human hand, certainly also performed this wonder on his account. And they considered the philanthropy and alliance of God to be of great worth, he who does not need weapons when fighting but invisibly destroys his assailants. Then the prophet teaches us how Hezekiah was pleased 392 with them, and showed them the house of Nechoth, and the silver and the gold, and the stacte, and the incense, and all the houses of the vessels of the treasury, and all that was in his storehouses; and there was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his domain. But the house of Nechoth, Symmachus has called “the house of spices,” and the stacte he has named “sweet spices”; but I think that the stacte is balsam. And he calls the treasury *gaza*. But the God of all was displeased that these things had happened; for the pious king ought not to have been proud of these things, nor to have shown them to the visitors, but to have taught the power of God and proclaimed his greatest wonders and guided them to the truth and made the embassy a pretext for teaching. For this reason he sends the prophet to him, and he inquires from where the visitors had come and what pretext brought them, as if saying: I am the cause of these things, for he who a short while ago was warred against by them and promised them tribute now receives gifts and tribute from them and is urged to become a friend. Then when Hezekiah had said that

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παύσομαι εὐλογῶν σε μετὰ ψαλτηρίου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς μου κατέναντι τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ. ∆ιηνεκῆ ὑμνῳδίαν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ θείῳ ναῷ προσεδρείαν ὁ πάντα ἄριστος ἐπα γγέλλεται βασιλεύς· προλέγει δὲ ὅτι καὶ παιδίων ἔσται πατὴρ τῆς θείας αὐτῷ δηλονότι χάριτος ςυνεργούσης. Τινὲς δὲ ἐντεῦθεν πρόφασιν εἰληφότες ἔφασαν τὸν μακάριον Ἐζεκίαν τὰς πρὸς τὸν ∆αυὶδ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγενη μένας ἐπιστάμενον ὑποσχέσεις καὶ ὅτι «οὐκ ἐκλείψει» τῆς βασιλείας τὸ γένος, «ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ ᾧ ἀπόκειται», ἀμελῆσαι τῆ ς παιδοποιίας διὰ τὴν τῆς ζωῆς ἐπιθυμίαν, ὑπελάμβανε γὰρ μὴ πρότερον αὐτὸν τελευτήσειν πρὶν ἢ π αί δων γενέσθαι πατέρα· καὶ τούτου χάριν ὁ θεὸς τήν τε νόσον ἐπήγαγε καὶ τῆς τελευτῆς τὴν ψῆφον δέδωκεν, μετὰ δὲ τ οῦτό φησι τῆς θείας φιλανθρωπίας ἐπέτυχε καὶ τῆς ζωῆς τὸ δῶρον δεξάμενος εἶπεν· Ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν παιδία ποιήσω ἃ ἀναγγελεῖ τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου, κύριε τῆς σωτηρίας μου. Καὶ ὁ μὲν λόγος ἔχει τὸ εἰκός, ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ τολ μήματι ἀ πονοίας ἀκολουθεῖν, μάλιστα τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἄκρον δικαιοσύνης τῷ βασιλεῖ μαρτυρού σης· ἐγᾦμ αι τοίνυν ὅτι, μαθὼν ὅτι πέντε καὶ δέκα ἔτη μετὰ τὴν ἀρρωστίαν βιώσεται, τῆς παιδο ποιί ας ὑπέσχετο φρόντισιν, ἵνα καὶ ἐκθρέψας αὐτοὺς διαδόχους καταλίπῃ τῆς βασιλείας. Ὁ μέντοι προφήτης παρακελεύεται αὐτῷ παλάθην σύκων λεπτύνεσθαι καὶ χρᾶναι καὶ ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ ἕλκει καὶ τὴν ὑγε ίαν πορίσασθαι. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος τὴν ἰατρικὴν μὴ ἀποσείεσθαι τέχνην· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὴ δῶρον θεοῦ. Προσήκει δὲ μὴ τῇ τέχνῃ θαρρεῖν ἀλλὰ τῷ ταύτης δοτῆρι· τοσαῦτα γὰρ αὕτη δύναται |147 a| ὅσα ἂν ἐκεῖνος βούληται. Καὶ πολλάκις μὲν διὰ σμικρῶν φαρμάκων μεγάλα τραύματα θεραπεύει, πολλάκις δὲ διὰ μεγάλων ἐλέγχεται, ἵνα μὴ ταύτῃ τῷ δὲ ταύτην δεδωκότι θαρρῶμεν. 22Καὶ εἶπεν Ἐζεκίας· Τοῦτο τὸ σημεῖον ὅτι ἀναβήσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ. Θαρρῶ φησιν ὅτι καὶ τῆς ὑγείας τεύ ξομαι καὶ ἐν τῷ θείῳ ναῷ προσκυνήσω τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεόν. Κατ' αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ὁ βασιλεὺς Μαροδὲχ ὁ τοῦ Βαλαδὰν υἱὸς πρεσβευτὰς καὶ δῶρα καὶ γράμματα ἐξέπεμψε τῷ βασιλεῖ Ἐζεκίᾳ, καὶ τὴν ἀρρωστίαν καὶ τὴν ὑγείαν μαθών. Ζητητέον δὲ πόθεν οὗτος τὰ κατὰ τοῦτον μεμάθηκεν. ∆ῆλον δὲ τοῖς συνιδεῖν δυναμένοις, ὡς οἱ μὲν ἐκπεφευγότες τὸν ἐπενεχθέντα τοῖς Ἀσσυρίοις ὄλεθρον τὸ ξένον καὶ παράδοξον ἐκήρυξαν θαῦμα· ἀκολου θῆσαν δὲ τὸ πολλῷ μεῖζον ἐκείνου καὶ παραδοξότερον, τὸ κατὰ τὸν ἥλιόν φημι, μειζόνως τοὺς Βαβυλωνίους ἐξέπληξεν. Συ νῆ καν γὰρ <ὅτι> ὁ τοσαύτας μυριάδας δίχα χειρὸς ἀνθρωπίνης διὰ τὸν εὐσεβῆ βασιλέα παραπέμψας θανάτῳ διὰ τοῦτον πάντως καὶ τοῦτο τὸ θαῦμα πεποίηκεν. Καὶ πολλοῦ ἀξίαν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν ἐνόμισαν, ὃς οὐ δεῖται ὅπλων παραττόμενος ἀλλ' ἀοράτως καταλύει τοὺς ἐπιόντας. Ἔπειτα ἡμ ᾶς ὁ προφήτης διδάσκει ὡς ἥσθη μὲν 392 ἐπ' αὐτοῖς Ἐζεκίας, ἔδειξε δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ νεχωθὰ καὶ τοῦ ἀργυρίου καὶ τοῦ χρυσίου καὶ τῆς στακτῆς καὶ τῶν θυμιαμάτων καὶ πάντας τοὺς οἴκους τῶν σκευῶν τῆς γάζης καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἦν ἐν τοῖς θησαυροῖς αὐτοῦ· καὶ οὐκ ἦν οὐθὲν ὃ οὐκ ἔδειξεν αὐτοῖς Ἐζεκίας ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ. Τὸν δὲ οἶκον τοῦ νεχωθὰ «τὸν οἶκον τῶν ἀρωμάτων» ὁ Σύμμαχος εἴρηκε, τὴν δὲ στακτὴν «ἡδύσματα» προσηγόρευσεν· ἡγοῦμαι δὲ τὴν στακτὴν τὸ βάλσαμον εἶναι. Γάζαν δὲ καλεῖ τὸν θησαυρόν. Ὁ δὲ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς τούτων γεγενημένων ἠχ<θ>έσθη· οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔδει μέγα φρονῆσαι τὸν εὐσεβῆ βασιλέα οὐδὲ ταῦτα τοῖς ἀφιγμένοις ἐπιδεῖξαι ἀλλὰ τοῦ θεοῦ διδάξαι τὴν δύναμιν καὶ κηρύξαι τὰ μέγιστα θαύματα καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ποδηγῆσαι καὶ πρόφασιν διδασ καλίας τὴν πρεσβείαν ποιήσασθαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πέμπει μὲν πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν προφήτην, πυνθάνεται δὲ καὶ πόθεν οἱ ἀφιγμένοι καὶ τίς αὐτοὺς ἤγαγε πρόφασις μονονουχὶ λέγων ὡς· Ἐγὼ τούτων αἴτιος, ὁ γὰρ πρὸ βραχέος ὑπ' αὐτῶν πολεμούμενος καὶ φόρον αὐτοῖς ὑπισχνούμενος νῦν παρ' αὐτῶν δέχῃ δῶρα καὶ φόρον καὶ φίλος γενέσθαι παρακαλεῖ. Εἶτα τοῦ Ἐζεκίου εἰρηκότος ὅτι