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Rh :Strengthen ye the weak hands,
 * And make firm the tottering knees.
 * Say to them that are of a fearful heart: 'Be strong, fear not';
 * Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
 * With the recompense of God He will come and save you.


 * Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
 * And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
 * Then shall the lame man leap as a hart,
 * And the tongue of the dumb shall sing;
 * For in the wilderness shall waters break out,
 * And streams in the desert.
 * And the parched land shall become a pool,
 * And the thirsty ground springs of water;
 * In the habitation of jackals herds shall lie down,
 * It shall be an enclosure for reeds and rushes.
 * And a highway shall be there, and a way,
 * And it shall be called The way of holiness;
 * The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those;
 * The wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein.
 * No lion shall be there,
 * Nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon,
 * They shall not be found there;
 * But the redeemed shall walk there;
 * And the ransomed of the shall return,
 * And come with singing unto Zion,
 * And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
 * They shall obtain gladness and joy,
 * And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fullers' field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. And Rab-shakeh said unto them: 'Say ye now to Hezekiah: Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me? Behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him. But if thou say unto me: We trust in the our God; is not that He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem: Ye shall worship before this altar? Now therefore, I pray thee, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain, even of the least of my master's servants? yet thou puttest thy trust on Egypt for chariots and