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For we believe and are persuaded that your supplications on our behalf will contribute greatly to our salvation. The king was instructed to say these things to the prophet. But as soon as they arrived, Isaiah, anticipating their words, commanded them to report the prophecy that was brought; by which he says he will put a spirit into him, by which spirit he, being deceived, will return to his own land, where he will end his life by the sword. And the account makes this the first prophecy in the present history. 2.12 When the prophet had declared the aforesaid things, Rabshakeh, who had acted so insolently, suddenly departed from the siege without success, and hastening, he went to meet the king of the Assyrians, as God had distracted his mind. But the king of the Assyrians, who was besieging another city of Judea, Libnah, after Lachish, was disturbed by news that was not good, according to the word of God, and hastened against the Ethiopians. He did not, however, neglect the threat against the Jews, but sending messengers and a letter, he first commanded them to speak orally to Hezekiah the things contained in the letter, and then to deliver the letter itself; Therefore, having puffed himself up with so many deeds and with these words and promises, he was thus deceiving; do not be ignorant. Then again the impious one uttered blasphemous words, boasting against God, and he enumerated the nations that had come under his hand, whose own gods did not defend them at all. And the prophet revealed this boasting of the Assyrian beforehand, proclaiming the future "before it came to be" and saying: "Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of my anger and wrath is in their hands" and so on. "But he himself did not so intend, and in his soul he has not so reasoned," but he said: "As I have done to Samaria and her handmade idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and her idols." On which account he also brought on the threat that follows; These things, then, had been spoken long before, but now they were being fulfilled in the present times. But Hezekiah, just as before, hastened now also "to the house of God" and showed the letter to God alone. Then he offered a supplication through prayer, saying that he alone is God and no other. Since he alone has become the maker of heaven and earth and of the whole cosmos, with no one else sharing this divine power with him, he would be the living God, while the others are soulless and dead, he alone being living, possessing unoriginate and unbegotten life, and being the cause of all who partake of life. And now, taking courage, as to a God who is living and present to all things and hears his words, he asked him to show to the kingdoms of the whole world that he alone is God, by saving those who had hoped in him. And now, the occasion allowing, the king theologized so many and such things through prayer, not having prayed when he first went up "to the house of God" wearing "sackcloth" out of extreme reverence; at that time, indeed, he did not even dare to open his mouth before God. Therefore, sending the prophet, he asked him to intercede for them in supplications to God, but now, when he was deemed worthy of a response from God and, having believed the holy promises through the prophet concerning the predictions against the enemy, he boldly sent up the present prayer with his hands, containing pious doctrines of theology. 2.13 The prophets of God, when they prophesied things that were to happen long afterward, did not from this have the sign among the multitudes that they were prophets; for they did not consider them prophets on the basis of outcomes they did not know. But from the experience they received from immediate results, from these they trusted in the predictions of future things. Thus, then, Samuel once foretold to Saul "concerning the donkeys" and another concerning which king was sick and again

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πιστεύομεν γὰρ ἡμεῖς καὶ πεπείσμεθα τὰ μεγάλα ἡμῖν συμβαλεῖσθαι πρὸς σωτηρίαν τὰς σὰς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἱκετηρίας. ταῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ προφήτῃ λέγειν διετάττετο. ὡς δὲ μόνον ἐπέστησαν αὐτοί, φθάσας τοὺς παρ' αὐτῶν λόγους ὁ Ἠσαΐας ἀπαγγέλλειν προσέταττε τὴν ἐπιφερομένην προφητείαν· δι' ἧς πνεῦμά φησιν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς αὐτόν, ὑφ' οὗ πνεύματος ἀπατηθεὶς ἐπανήξει ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γῆν, ἔνθα ξίφει τὴν ζωὴν καταστρέψει. καὶ ταύτην πρώτην ποιεῖται προφητείαν ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ τῆς προκειμένης ἱστορίας. 2.12 Θεσπίσαντος τοῦ προφήτου τὰ προλεχθέντα ὁ τὰ τοσαῦτα ἀπαυθαδιασάμενος Ῥαψάκης ἀθρόως ἄπρακτος ἀπεχώρει τῆς πολιορκίας, σπεύσας τε ἀπήντα πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐκστήσαντος αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ θεοῦ. ὁ δὲ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς ἑτέραν τῆς Ἰουδαίας πόλιν τὴν Λόμνα μετὰ τὴν Λαχεὶς πολιορκῶν ἀγγελίας αὐτὸν οὐκ ἀγαθῆς ἐκταραξάσης κατὰ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον ἔσπευδεν ἐπ' Αἰθίοπας. οὐ μὴν ἠμέλει τῆς κατὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπειλῆς, ἀποστείλας δὲ ἀγγέλους καὶ γραφὴν πρῶτα μὲν ἐκέλευσεν ἀπὸ στόματος λέγειν τῷ Ἑζεκίᾳ τὰ ἐμφερόμενα τῇ γραφῇ, εἶτα καὶ αὐτὴν ἀναδιδόναι τὴν ἐπιστολήν· τῶν τοσούτων οὖν πραγμάτων καὶ τούτοις τοῖς λόγοις καὶ ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις ἐπάρας ἑαυτὸν τοιγαροῦν ἀπατῶν μὴ ἀγνόει. εἶτα καὶ πάλιν ὁ δυσσεβὴς δυσφήμους ἠφίει φωνὰς τοῦ θεοῦ καταλαζονευόμενος, κατηριθμεῖτό τε τὰ ὑπὸ χεῖρα αὐτῷ γενόμενα ἔθνη τῶν οἰκείων θεῶν οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ἐπαμυνόντων. ταύτην δὲ τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου τὴν μεγαλαυχίαν ἐδήλου διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ὁ προφήτης «πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι» τὸ μέλλον ἀναφωνῶν καὶ λέγων· «Οὐαὶ Ἀσσυρίοις· ἡ ῥάβδος τοῦ θυμοῦ μου καὶ ὀργῆς ἐστιν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτῶν» καὶ ἑξῆς. «αὐτὸς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐνεθυμήθη καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ οὐχ οὕτως λελόγισται», ἀλλ' εἶπεν· «ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησα Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ τοῖς χειροποιήτοις αὐτῆς, οὕτως ποιήσω τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῆς». ἐφ' οἷς καὶ τὴν ἀπειλὴν ἑξῆς ἐπῆγε· λέλεκτο μὲν οὖν ταῦτα πάλαι πρότερον, νυνὶ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς παρόντας ἐπληροῦτο χρόνους. Ὁ δέ γε Ἑζεκίας ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον ἔσπευδε καὶ νῦν «ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ» καὶ αὐτῷ μόνον τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐδείκνυ τῷ θεῷ. εἶτ' ἐπῆγεν ἱκετηρίαν διὰ προσευχῆς μόνον αὐτὸν εἶναι θεὸν λέγων καὶ οὐδένα ἄλλον. ἐπεὶ καὶ μόνος αὐτὸς οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου γέγονε ποιητὴς οὐδενὸς ἀλλ' οὐ ταύτης αὐτῷ τῆς θεϊκῆς δυνάμεως ἐπικοινωνοῦντος, αὐτὸς εἴη ἂν ζῶν θεὸς τῶν ἄλλων ἀψύχων καὶ νεκρῶν ὄντων, αὐτοῦ δὲ μόνου ζῶντος τὴν ἄναρχον καὶ ἀγέννητον ζωὴν ἐπιγραφομένου τε ἁπάντων τῶν ζωῆς μετόχων τὴν αἰτίαν. ἤδη δὲ θαρσῶν ὡς ζῶντα καὶ τοῖς πᾶσι παρόντα καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ φωνῶν ἀκροώμενον θεὸν ἠξίου ταῖς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης βασιλείαις ἐνδείξασθαι μόνος αὐτὸς εἴη θεὸς ἐν τῷ διασώσασθαι τοὺς ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἠλπικότας. καὶ νῦν μὲν τοσαῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς ἐθεολόγει τοῦ καιροῦ συγχωρήσαντος ὁ βασιλεὺς μὴ εὐξάμενος, ὅτε τὸ πρῶτον «εἰς τὸν οἶκον» ἀνῄει «τοῦ θεοῦ» τῇ «τοῦ σάκκου» περιβολῇ κεχρημένος δι' ὑπερβολὴν εὐλαβείας· τότε γοῦν οὐδὲ διᾶραι στόμα ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐτόλμα. διὸ τὸν προφήτην ἀποστείλας ἠξίου πρεσβεῦσαι ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἱκετηρίαις, νῦν δὲ ὅτε ἀποκρίσεως ἠξίωτο τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ταῖς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὁσίαις ἐπαγγελίαις πιστεύσας ταῖς κατὰ τοῦ πολεμίου προρρήσεσι θαρσαλέως διὰ τῶν μετὰ χεῖρας τὴν προκειμένην ἀνέπεμψεν εὐχὴν εὐσεβῆ δόγματα θεολογίας περιέχουσαν. 2.13 Οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ προφῆται τὰ μακροῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι θεσπίζοντες οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν εἶχον τὸ γνώρισμα παρὰ τοῖς πλήθεσι τοῦ προφήτας αὐτοὺς εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ ἀφ' ὧν τὰς ἐκβάσεις ἠγνόουν προφήτας αὐτοὺς ἡγοῦντο. ἀφ' ὧν δὲ τὴν πεῖραν ἐκ τῶν παραχρῆμα ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐλάμβανον, ἐκ τούτων ἐν ταῖς τῶν μελλόντων κατεπίστευον προρρήσεσιν. οὕτως οὖν ποτε καὶ «περὶ ὄνων» ὁ Σαμουὴλ προὔλεγε τῷ Σαοὺλ καὶ ἄλλος περὶ οὗ βασιλέως νοσηλευομένου καὶ πάλιν