Add parallel Print Page Options

The king[a] heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia[b] was marching out to fight him.[c] He again sent[d] messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: 10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands.[e] Do you really think you will be rescued?[f] 12 Were the nations whom my predecessors[g] destroyed—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar—rescued by their gods?[h] 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad or the kings of Lair,[i] Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 37:9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  2. Isaiah 37:9 tn Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”
  3. Isaiah 37:9 tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”
  4. Isaiah 37:9 tn 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.”
  5. Isaiah 37:11 tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”
  6. Isaiah 37:11 tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”
  7. Isaiah 37:12 tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”
  8. Isaiah 37:12 tn 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?”
  9. Isaiah 37:13 sn Lair was a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.

Then he (A)heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of [a](B)Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” So he heard it and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of [b]Judah, ‘(C)Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 (D)Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. So will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of [c]those nations, which my fathers have brought to ruin, deliver them, even (E)Gozan and (F)Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 37:9 Or Cush, cf. Gen 10:6
  2. Isaiah 37:10 Lit Judah, saying
  3. Isaiah 37:12 Lit the