The
Martyrdom of Isaiah
From-The
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
R.H. Charles
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
[Chapter 1]
1 And it came to pass in the twenty-sixth year
of the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah that he
2 called Manasseh his son. Now he was his only
one. And he called him into the presence of Isaiah the son of
Amoz the prophet; and into the presence of Josab the son of
Isaiah.
6b, 7 And whilst he (Hezekiah) gave commands,
Josab the son of Isaiah standing by, Isaiah said to Hezekiah
the king, but not in the presence of Manasseh only did he say
unto him: 'As the Lord liveth, whose name has not been sent
into this world, [and as the Beloved of my Lord liveth], and
as the Spirit which speaketh in me liveth, all these commands
and these words shall be made of none effect by Manasseh thy
son, and through the agency of his hands I shall depart mid
the torture of
8 my body. And Sammael Malchira shall serve Manasseh,
and execute all his desire, and he shall
9 become a follower of Beliar rather than of
me. And many in Jerusalem and in Judaea he shall cause to abandon
the true faith, and Beliar shall dwell in Manasseh, and
by his hands I shall be sawn asunder.'
10 And when Hezekiah heard these words he wept
very bitterly, and rent his garments,
11 and placed earth upon his head, and fell on
his face. And Isaiah said unto him: 'The counsel of
12 Sammael against Manasseh is consummated: nought
shall avail thee.'
13 And on that day Hezekiah
resolved in his heart to slay Manasseh his son. And Isaiah said
to Hezekiah:'The Beloved hath made of none effect thy design,
and the purpose of thy heart shall not be accomplished, for
with this calling have I been called [and I shall inherit the
heritage of the Beloved].' (Isaiah
prevents Hezekiah from slaying his son)
[Chapter 2]
1 And it came to pass after that Hezekiah died
and Manasseh became king, that he did not remember the commands
of Hezekiah his father but forgat them, and Sammael abode in
Manasseh
2 and clung fast to him. And
Manasseh forsook the service of the God of his father, and he
served
3 Satan and his angels
and his powers. And he turned aside the house of his
father which had been
4 before the face of Hezekiah the words of wisdom
and from the service of God. (The whole
house of Hezekiah is turned to darkness)
And Manasseh turned aside his heart to serve Beliar; for the
angel of lawlessness, who is the ruler of this world, is Beliar,
whose name is Matanbuchus. And he delighted in Jerusalem because
of Manasseh, and he made him strong in apostatizing (Israel)
and in the lawlessness which was spread abroad in Jerusalem
(This is powerful stuff)
5 And witchcraft and magic
increased and divination and augulation, and fornication, [and
adultery], and the persecution of the righteous by Manasseh
and [Belachira, and] Tobia the Canaanite, and John
6 of Anathoth, and by (Zadok)
(This man was the high priest) the
chief of the works. And the rest of the
acts, behold they are written
7 in the book of the Kings
of Judah and Israel. And when Isaiah
the son of Amoz saw the lawlessness which was being perpetratcd
in Jerusalem and the worship of Satan and his wantonness, he
8 withdrew from Jerusalem
and settled in Bethlehem of Judah. And
there also there was much
9 lawlessness, and withdrawing
from Bethlehem he settled on a mountain in a desert place. (this
is also recorded in revelation) [And Micaiah the prophet,
and the aged Ananias, and Joel, and Habakkuk, and Isaiah's son
Josab, and many of the faithful who believed in the ascension
into heaven, withdrew and settled on the mountain.]
10 They were all clothed
with garments of hair, and they were all prophets. And they
had nothing with them but were naked, and they all lamented
with a great lamentation because of the going
11 astray of Israel. And
these eat nothing save wild herbs which they gathered on the
mountains, and having cooked them, they lived thereon together
with Isaiah the prophet. And they spent two years of
12 days on the mountains
and hills. [And after this, whilst they were in thc desert,
there was a certain man in Samaria named Belchlra, of
the family of Zedekiah,(The son of a prophet
becomes a false prophet)the son of Chenaan, a false prophet
whose dwelling was in Bethlehem. Now Hezekiah the son of Chanani,
who was the brother of his father, and in the days of Ahab king
of Israel had been the teacher of the 400 prophets of Baal,
13 had himself smitten
and reproved Micaiah the son of Amada the prophet. And he, Micaiah,
had been reproved by Ahab and cast into prison. (And
he was) with Zedekiah the prophet:
they were
14 with Ahaziah the son of Ahab, king in Samaria.
And Elijah the prophet of Tebon of Gilead was reproving Ahaziah
and Samaria, and prophesied regarding Ahaziah that he should
die on his bed of sickness, and that Samaria should be delivered
into the hand of Leba Nasr because he
had slain
15 the prophets of God.
And when the false prophets, who were with Ahaziah the son of
Ahab and
16 their teacher Gemarias of Mount Joel had heard
-now he was brother of Zedekiah -when they had heard,
they persuaded Ahaziah the king of Aguaron and he slew Micaiah.
[Chapter 3]
1 And Belchlra recognized and saw the place of
Isaiah and the prophets who were with him; for he dwelt in the
region of Bethlehem, and was an adherent of Manasseh. And he
prophesied falsely in Jerusalem, and many belonging to Jerusalem
were confederate with him, and he was a Samaritan.
2 And it came to pass when Alagar Zagar, king
of Assyria, had come and captured Samaria and taken the nine
(and a half) tribes captive, and led them away to the mountains
of the Medes and the
3 rivers of Tazon; this (Belchira) while still
a youth, had escaped and come to Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah
king of Judah, but he walked not in the ways of his father of
Samaria; for he feared
4 Hezekiah. And he was found in the days of Hezekiah
speaking words of lawlessness in Jerusalem.
5 And the servants of Hezekiah accused him, and
he made his escape to the region of Bethlehem.
6 And they persuaded . . . And Belchlra accused
Isaiah and the prophets who were with him, saying: 'Isaiah and
those who are with him prophesy against Jerusalem and against
the cities of Judah that they shall be laid waste and (against
the children of Judah and) Benjamin also that they shall go
into captivity, and also against thee, O lord the king, that
thou shalt go (bound) with hooks
8 and iron chains': But they prophesy falsely
against Israel and Judah. And Isaiah himself
hath
9 said: 'I see more than
Moses the prophet.' (This is so christ-like
when the pharisees and the priests accused Him in the sanhedrin)
But Moses said: 'No man can see God and live':
10 and Isaiah hath said:
'I have seen God and behold I live.' Know, therefore, O king,
that he is lying. And Jerusalem also he hath called Sodom, and
the princes of Judah and Jerusalem he hath declared to be the
people of Gomorrah. And he brought many accusations against
Isaiah and the
11 prophets before Manasseh.
But Beliar dwelt in the heart of Manasseh and in the heart of
the (Satan's minions dwell within
the heart and soul of these people like the Holy Ghost dwells
within the heart of a believer)
12 princes of Judah and Benjamin and of the eunuchs
and of the councilors of the king. And the words of Belchira
pleased him exceedingly, (the prince of
darkness utterly blinds, he wills you with lustful desires and
emotions to take to kill and to destroy people find these extremely
intoxicating.) and he sent and seized Isaiah.
[Chapter 5]
1b, 2 And he sawed him
asunder with a wood-saw. And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder
Balchlra stood up, accusing him, and all the false prophets
stood up, laughing and rejoicing because
3 of Isaiah. And
Balchlra, with the aid of Mechembechus, stood up before Isaiah,
[laughing]
4 deriding; And Belchlra said to Isaiah: 'Say:
"I have lied in all that I have spoken, and likewise
5 the ways of Manasseh are good and right. And
the ways also of Balchlra and of his associates are
6, 7 good."' And this
he said to him when he began to be sawn in sunder. But Isaiah
was taken
8 in a vision of the Lord,
and though his eyes were open, he saw the (the visions). And
Balchlra spake thus to Isaiah: 'Say what I say unto thee
and I will turn their heart, and I will compel Manasseh
9 and the princes of
Judah and the people and all Jerusalem to reverence thee.'
(This is so like when satan came to Christ
and said: If you will bow down and reverance me I will give
you all the kingdoms and their wealth" implying all these
kingdoms and their people would all become subject to Christ
and all would reverance Christ if, he would bow down and reverance
the devil." -- I see by the Spirit that in His trial after
he was beaten mocked and spit upon, and was formally chaged
with His crimes and sentenced to die, that someone in the spirit
of the false prophet said to Christ 'Say what I say unto
thee and I will turn their heart, and I will compel the High
Priest, The members of the Sanhedrin, and the people of and
all Jerusalem shall revernce thee.' "Matthew
recalled Christ saying 'And if it were possible during the great
tribulation that even the very elect would be deceived"
From this shoet book wee can now see into that time, that falling
away into sin and deception, being taken over literally by satan
so that people would beelvie it will save them to slay their
brethren.) And Isaiah answered and said: 'So far as I
have utterance (I say): Damned and accursed be thou and all
thy powers and
10, 11 all thy house. For
thou canst not take aught (from me) save the skin if my flesh
of my body.' And they (being seized with
madness)
12 seized and sawed in
sunder Isaiah, the son of Amoz, with a wood-saw. And
Manasseh and
13 Balchlra and the false prophets and the princes
and the people [and] all stood looking on. And to the prophets
who were with him (Isaiah) spake before
he had been sawn in sunder: (The following
appears to be a prophecy to the survivors of this to flee from
Jerusalem that Isaiah alone at that time was to partake of God's
cup --the cup of Christ's suffering.) 'Go ye to the
region
14 of Tyre and Sidon; for
me only hath God mingled this cup.' And when Isaiah was being
sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips
spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain.
Revelation
12:11 And
they overcame him (the god of this world) by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not
their lives unto the death.