[517] 2 Kings xx. 4. The _Q'rî_ or "read" text is, as here rendered, _chatsee_ (comp. 1 Kings vii. 8), and is followed by the LXX. ( ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ τῇ μέσῃ), by the Vulgate (_mediam partem atrii_), and by the A.V. The R.V., which adopts the Kethîb or written text, _ha'îr_, renders it "the middle part of the city." If this be the true reading, it would mean that Isaiah had gone some distance from the palace, and was now perhaps in the Valley between the Upper and the Lower City. But it seems not improbable that (1) "the steps of Ahaz" would be in the royal court, and (2) the answer of God, like the mercy of Christ to the suffering, may have come promptly as an echo to the appealing cry. [518] The LXX. calls "the stairs" ἀναβαθμοὺς τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, and so, too, Josephus (_Antt._, X. ii. 1). The Targum calls them "an hour-stone." Symmachus has, στρέψω τὴν σκίαν τῶν γραμμῶν ἥ κατέβη ἐν ὡρολογίῳ Ἀχάζ. [519] It should, however, be observed that on the question of priority critics are divided. Grotius, Vitringa, Paulus, Drechsler, etc., thought that the account in the Book of Isaiah is the original; De Wette, Maurer, Koster, Winer, Driver, etc., regard that account as a later abbreviation, perhaps from a common source. [520] See Professor Lumby, _ad loc._ [521] There is an exactly similar sun-dial not far from Delhi. [522] _Journ. of Asiatic Soc._, xv. 286-293. [523] Figs have a recognised use for imposthumes. See Dioscorides and Pliny quoted in Celsius, _Hierobot._, ii. 373. In the passage of _Berachoth_ quoted above, Hezekiah in his sickness asks Isaiah to give him his daughter in marriage, that he may have an heir. Isaiah replies that the decree of his death is irrevocable. The king bids Isaiah depart, and says (quoting Job xiii. 15) that a man must not despair, even if a sword is laid on his neck. [524] Comp. Psalm xlii. 4. [525] Isa. xxxviii. 10-20. [526] The Babylonian form of his name is Marduk-habal-iddi-na--_i.e._, "Merodach gave a son." He is the Mardokempados of the _Ptolemaic Canon_, and the second fragment of his reign (six months) is mentioned by Polyhistor (_ap._ Euseb.). Josephus calls him Baladan (_Antt._, X. ii. 2). He was originally the prince of the Chaldæan _Bit Yakîm_. Sargon calls him "Merodach-Baladan, the foe, the perverse, who, contrary to the will of the great gods, ruled as king at Babylon." He displaced him for a time by "Belibus, the son of a wise man, whom one had reared like a little dog" (as we might say "like a tame cat") "in my palace" (Schrader, ii. 32). In the Assyrian records he is often called (by mistake?) "the son of Yakim." For the adventures of the Babylonian hero, see Schrader, _K. A. T._, 213 ff., 224 ff., 227, and in Riehm, _Handwörterbuch_, ii. 982. [527] Isa. xiv. 4, xiii. 19. [528] Gen. x. 10, 11, xi. 1-9. [529] Jos., _Antt._, X. ii. 2: Σύμμαχόν τε αὐτὸν εἶναι παρεκάλει καὶ φίλον. [530] 2 Kings xx. 13. LXX., ἐχάρη. [531] See Dan. i. 6. [532] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. [533] Job i. 21.