translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ISA

label: NET translator note

text: The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2 .


text: Heb “elders of the priests” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NCV “the older priests”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “the senior priests.”


text: In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him” (cf. NRSV).


text: Or “rebuke” (KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “correction.”


text: Or “contempt”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “disgrace.”


text: Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”


text: Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”


text: Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”


text: Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”


text: Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”


text: Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ ( ruakh , “spirit”) is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19 ), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.


text: Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”


text: Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”


text: Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”


text: The Hebrew text has, “and he heard and he sent,” but the parallel in 2 Kgs 19:9 has וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁלַח ( vayyashav vayyishlakh , “and he returned and he sent”), i.e., “he again sent.”


text: Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”


text: Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”


text: Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”


text: Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”


label: NET textual note

text: The Hebrew text has the plural, “letters.” The final mem ( ם ) may be dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular. If so, one still has to deal with the yod that is part of the plural ending. J. N. Oswalt refers to various commentators who have suggested ways to understand the plural form ( Isaiah [NICOT], 1:652).


text: In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”).


text: Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם ( shamayim ) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.


text: Heb “Hear all the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”


text: The Hebrew text here has “all the lands,” but the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:17 has “the nations.”


text: Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”


text: Heb “so they destroyed them” (NASB similar).


text: The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”


text: The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in Isa 37:21 , where אֲשֶׁר (’ asher ) probably has a causal sense: “because.”


text: Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”


text: Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”


text: The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’ adonay ).


text: Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”


text: scroll harmonizes with against the MT ( Isa 36:5; 37:9, 20 ). Since the addition of “foreign” to this text in Isaiah by a later scribe would be more likely than its deletion, the MT reading should be accepted.


text: Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24 , the Lord now speaks to the king.


text: Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.


text: Heb “formed” (so KJV, ASV).


text: Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְהִי ( tÿhi ) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.


text: Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”


text: Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6 ; Isa 40:6-8, 24 .


text: Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.


text: ; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.


text: does not have it at the beginning of v. 29 . In light of this ambiguous manuscript evidence, it appears best to retain the clause in both verses.


text: Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ ( sha ’ anankha , “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ ( shÿ ’ onÿkha , “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).


text: At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 22-29 ) ends and the Lord again addresses Hezekiah and the people directly (see v. 21 ).


text: Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ ot , “sign”) is a future reminder of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25 .


text: Heb “and in the second year” (so ASV).


text: Heb “in the third year” (so KJV, NAB).


text: The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 30 b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity.


text: Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”


text: Heb “the zeal of the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them.


text: Heb “there” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). In terms of English style “here” is expected in collocation with “this” in the previous line.


text: Heb “[with] a shield” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV).


text: Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”


text: Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).


text: The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.


text: This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.


text: Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”


text: The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2 .