And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it,.... Or books k, in which the above things were written; and everyone of these he read, as Kimchi interprets it; though the Targum is,

"he took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read one of them;''

that is, as Kimchi's father explains it, in which was the blasphemy against God; this he read over carefully to himself, observed the contents of it, and then did with it as follows:

and Hezekiah went up unto the house of God; the temple, the outward court of it, further than that he could not go:

and spread it before the Lord; not to read it, as he had done, or to acquaint him with the contents of it, which he fully knew; but, as it chiefly regarded him, and affected his honour and glory, he laid it before him, that he might take notice of it, and vindicate himself, and avenge his own cause; he brought it as a proof of what he had to say to him in prayer, and to support him in his allegations, and as a means to quicken himself in the discharge of that duty.

k את ספרים "libros", V. L.

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