Sirach 48

Elijah

⁴⁸Then Elijah arose, a prophet like fire,

and his word burned like a torch.^*

²He brought a famine upon them,

and by his zeal he made them few in number.

³By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens

and also three times brought down fire.^*

⁴How glorious you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!

Who can boast^e as you can?

⁵You who raised a corpse from death

and from Hades, by the word of the Most High,^*

⁶who sent kings down to destruction

and famous men from their sickbeds,^*

⁷who heard rebuke at Sinai

and judgments of vengeance at Horeb,^*

⁸who anointed kings to inflict retribution

and prophets to succeed you,^f*

⁹who were taken up by a whirlwind of fire

in a chariot with horses of fire,^*

¹⁰who were prepared at the appointed time^g

to calm wrath before it breaks out in fury,

to turn the hearts of parents to their children

and to restore the tribes of Jacob.^*

¹¹Happy are those who saw you

and were adorned^h in love!

For we also shall surely live.ⁱ

Elisha

¹²When Elijah was enveloped in the whirlwind,

Elisha was filled with his spirit.

He performed twice as many signs

and marvels with every utterance of his mouth.^j

Never in his lifetime did he tremble before any ruler,

nor could anyone intimidate him at all.^*

¹³Nothing was too hard for him,^k

and when he was dead his body prophesied.^*

¹⁴In his life he did wonders,

and in death his deeds were marvelous.

¹⁵Despite all this the people did not repent,

nor did they forsake their sins,

until they were carried off as plunder from their land

and were scattered over all the earth.

The people were left very few in number

but with a ruler from the house of David.^*

¹⁶Some of them did what was right,

but others sinned more and more.

Hezekiah

¹⁷Hezekiah fortified his city

and brought water into its midst;

he tunneled the rock with iron tools

and built cisterns for the water.^*

¹⁸In his days Sennacherib invaded the country;

he sent his commander^l and departed;

he shook his fist against Zion

and made great boasts in his arrogance.^*

¹⁹Then their hearts and hands were shaken,

and they were in anguish, like women in labor.

²⁰But they called upon the Lord who is merciful,

spreading out their hands toward him.

The Holy One quickly heard them from heaven

and delivered them through Isaiah.^*

²¹The Lord^m struck down the camp of the Assyrians,

and his angel wiped them out.^*

²²For Hezekiah did what was pleasing to the Lord,

and he kept firmly to the ways of his ancestor David,

as he was commanded by the prophet Isaiah,

who was great and trustworthy in his visions.^*

Isaiah

²³In Isaiah’sⁿ days the sun went backward,

and he prolonged the life of the king.^*

²⁴By his dauntless spirit he saw the future

and comforted the mourners in Zion.^*

²⁵He revealed what was to occur to the end of time

and the hidden things before they happened.^*