A reading from the book of Isaiah.

At that time, a Rodok Baladin, the son of Baladin, king of Babylon, sent invoids with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly, and he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil,

his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses.

There was nothing in his house, or in all his realm, that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah, the prophet, came to King Hezekiah, and said to him,

What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?

Hezekiah said,

They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon. He said, what have they seen in your house?

Hezekiah answered. They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses

that I did not show them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming,

when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day,

shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons,

who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of

the king of Babylon. Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,

for he thought there will be peace and security in my days. Comfort, comfort, my people,

says your God, speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare

is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double

for all her sins. A voice cries, and the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the

desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made

low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough place is a plain, and the glory of the Lord

shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

...