translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “elders of the priests.”


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


text: Or “rebuke,” “correction.”


text: Or “contempt.”


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 “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 “hear.”


text: Heb “cause him to fall,” 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 “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘Look, he has come out to fight with you.’”


text: Heb “will not be given.”


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 “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 MT has the plural, “letters,” but the final mem is probably dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular.


text: The MT has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”). The parallel passage in Isa 37:14 has the singular suffix.


text: Or “the heavens.”


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


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


text: Heb “so they destroyed them.”


text: Heb “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in the parallel passage 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 “have you raised a voice.”


text: Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?”


text: The word is אֲדֹנָי (’ adonai ), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה ( yehvah ), “ Lord .”


text: The consonantal text ( Kethib ) has בְּרֶכֶב ( bÿrekhev ), but this must be dittographic (note the following רִכְבִּי [ rikhbi ], “my chariots”). The marginal reading ( Qere ) בְּרֹב ( bÿrov ), “with many,” is supported by many Hebrew mss and ancient versions, as well as the parallel passage in Isa 37:24 .


text: Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”


text: Heb “I dug and drank foreign waters.”


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.”


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


text: Heb “short of hand.”


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: in Isa 37:27 ).


text: Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The MT also has here, “and how you have raged against me.” However, this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line).


text: Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךְ ( sha ’ anankh ), “your complacency,” is emended to שַׁאֲוַנְךְ ( sha ’ avankh ), “your uproar.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38.


text: At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28 ) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20 ).


text: Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ ot ), “sign,” is a future confirmation 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.”


text: The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29 b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.


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


text: Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”


text: Heb “there.”


text: Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.


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


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


text: Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”


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


text: Although “his sons” is absent in the Kethib , it is supported by the Qere , along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions. Cf. Isa 37:38 .