June 25, 2004, Tuesday of the 12th week in ordinary time.

A reading from the second book of kings.

Sinakurib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message.

Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah,

Do not let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you

by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. You have heard what the

kings of Assyria have done to all other countries. They doomed them. Will you then be saved? Hezekiah took the letter

from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord,

and spreading it out before him, he prayed in the Lord's presence. O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim,

You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made the heavens and the earth.

Incline your ear, O Lord, and listen.

Open your eyes, O Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see.

Hear the words of Sinakurib, which he sent to taunt the living God.

Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands

and cast their gods into the fire.

They destroyed them because they were not gods,

but the work of human hands, wood and stone.

Therefore, O Lord, our God, save us from the power of this man,

that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord,

are God."

Then Isaiah, son of Amaz, sent this message to Hesakaya.

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