Tuesday of the 12th week of Ordinary Time

9And when he had heard from Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia, saying, “Behold, he has gone out so that he may fight against you,” and when he went forth against him, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10“So shall you say to Hezekiah, the king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom you trust, lead you astray. And you should not say, ‘Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.’ 11For you yourself have heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands, the manner in which they have laid waste to them. Therefore, how would you alone be able to be freed?

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14And so, when Hezekiah had received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he ascended to the house of the Lord, and he spread it out before the Lord. 15And he prayed in his sight, saying: “O Lord, God of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, you alone are God, over all the kings of the earth. You made heaven and earth. 16Incline your ear, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, who sent so that he might reproach the living God before us. 17Truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have devastated all peoples and lands. 18And they have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but instead were the works of men’s hands, out of wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. 19Now therefore, O Lord our God, bring us salvation from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord God.” 20Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard what you beseeched from me, concerning Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians. 21This is the word that the Lord has spoken about him: The virgin daughter of Zion has spurned and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back.

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31Indeed, a remnant shall go forth from Jerusalem, and what may be saved shall go forth from mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall accomplish this. 32For this reason, thus says the Lord about the king of the Assyrians: He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor overtake it with the shield, nor encircle it with fortifications. 33By the way that he came, so shall he return. And he shall not enter this city, says the Lord. 34And I will protect this city, and I will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.” 35And so it happened that, in the same night, an Angel of the Lord went and struck down, in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he had risen up, at first light, he saw all the bodies of the dead. And withdrawing, he went away. 36And Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, returned and dwelled in Nineveh.

2The Lord is great and exceedingly praiseworthy, in the city of our God, on his holy mountain.

3Mount Zion is being founded with the exultation of the whole earth, on the north side, the city of the great king.

4In her houses, God will be known, since he will support her.

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10We have received your mercy, O God, in the midst of your temple.

11According to your name, O God, so does your praise reach to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of justice.

6Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they may trample them under their feet, and then, turning, they may tear you apart.

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12Therefore, all things whatsoever that you wish that men would do to you, do so also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. 13Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leads to perdition, and many there are who enter through it. 14How narrow is the gate, and how straight is the way, which leads to life, and few there are who find it!