Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 48

¹ Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch.

² It was he who brought famine on them, and who decimated them in his zeal.

³ By the word of the Lord, he shut up the heavens, he also, three times, brought down fire.

⁴ How glorious you were in your miracles, Elijah! Has anyone reason to boast as you have?-

⁵ rousing a corpse from death, from Sheol by the word of the Most High;

⁶ dragging kings down to destruction, and high dignitaries from their beds;

⁷ hearing reproof on Sinai, and decrees of punishment on Horeb;

⁸ anointing kings as avengers, and prophets to succeed you;

⁹ taken up in the whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses;

¹⁰ designated in the prophecies of doom to allay God’s wrath before the fury breaks, to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children,[*a] and to restore the tribes of Jacob,

¹¹ Happy shall they be who see you, and those who have fallen asleep in love; for we too will have life.

¹² Elijah was shrouded in the whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit; throughout his life no ruler could shake him, and no one could subdue him.

¹³ No task was too hard for him, and even in death his body prophesied.

¹⁴ In his lifetime he performed wonders, and in death his works were marvellous.

¹⁵ Despite all this the people did not repent, nor did they give up their sins, until they were herded out of their country and scattered all over the earth;

¹⁶ only a few of the people were left, with a ruler of the House of David. Some of them did what pleased the Lord, others piled sin on sin.

¹⁷ Hezekiah fortified his city, and laid on a water supply inside it; with iron he tunnelled through the rock and constructed cisterns.

¹⁸ In his days Sennacherib invaded and sent Rabshakeh;[*b] he lifted his hand against Zion, and boasted loudly in his arrogance.

¹⁹ Then their hearts and hands trembled, they felt the pangs of a woman in labour,

²⁰ but they called on the merciful Lord, stretching out their hands towards him. Swiftly the Holy One heard them from heaven, and delivered them by the hand of Isaiah,

²¹ he struck the camp of the Assyrians and his angel massacred them.

²² For Hezekiah did what is pleasing to the Lord, and was steadfast in the ways of David his father, enjoined on him by the prophet Isaiah, a great man trustworthy in his vision.

²³ In his days the sun moved back; he prolonged the life of the king.

²⁴ In the power of the spirit he saw the last things, he comforted the mourners of Zion,

²⁵ he revealed the future to the end of time, and hidden things long before they happened.