A citation from the library
Jerome, on Isa 37:14
Jerome · c. A.D. 347–420
Isa 37:14 · Douay-Rheims
“And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it before the Lord.”
On this verse:
“Against the blasphemies of King Sennacherib, Hezekiah's customary armory failed. So he goes back to the temple and opens his letter before the Lord. Previously he was silent, for he did not dare to open his mouth in the temple for fear of the Lord, nor to pour out extemporaneous prayers to God. Now, however, because he has already heard Isaiah saying, "Do not be afraid of the words which you hear, with which the sons of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me," and so on, he beseeches the Lord boldly and claims that the Lord alone is the living God, through whom we understand idols to be images of the dead.… That these idols weakened their makers is proven by many histories that record that the kings of Persia came to Greece, and subverted and ruined the temple of the Greeks. It also postulates vengeance, that through this opportunity all kingdoms would recognize that there is only one God, who is able to deliver his own from peril.”
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.