Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/423

 how I  have  walked  before  thee  with  a  perfect  heart,

and in  integrity  have  ever  pleased  Thee.'

Isaiah the  prophet  was  going  away,

but God  caused  him  to  return,  thus  saying  to  him  again,

' Return  to  Hezekiah,  and  say  to  him  these  words,

The Lord  God  hath  said,  in  whom  David  believed,

I have  heard  thy  prayer,  and  I  have  beheld  thy  weeping,

and behold,  I  will  heal  thee  that  thou  mayest  go  whole

now within  about  three  days,  to  thy  Lord's  temple;

and I  will  allow  thee  a  space  of  fifteen  years

in addition  to  thy  days,  and  I  will  also  protect  this  city!'

Then the  prophet  Isaiah  bade  make  a  plaster

for the  king's  wound,  and  health  came  to  him.

Then he  lived  afterward  until  the  sixteenth  year,

and with  all  goodness  pleased  God.

Hezekiah's son  was  called  Manasses,

and he  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  after  his  father's  death,

and with  many  evil  deeds  provoked  the  Almighty  God.

Then God  sent  him  a  severe  chastisement,

so that  the  Chaldean  people  came  to  him,

and brought  him  bound  to  the  city  of  Babylon,

and thrust  him  into  prison,  as  a  shame  to  his  kingship.

Then Manasses  greatly  repented  of  his  sins,

and with  all  his  heart  cried  to  the  Almighty,

imploring mercy  for  all  his  wicked  deeds,

and promised  amendment,  and  he  also  performed  it.

Lo then! the Almighty  God  heard  the  prayer

of the  poor  king,  and  brought  him

again to  his  kingdom,  out  of  the  cruel  prison,

and he   afterward  restored  that  which  he  had  before  broken  in pieces.

He then  acknowledged  God's  might,  and  his  mercy  towards  him,

and turned  his  deeds  to  his  Lord's  will,