Text -- Isaiah 37:29-38 (NET)

37:29 Because you rage against me and the uproar you create has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.” 37:30 “This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own. But the year after that you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. 37:31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit. 37:32 “For a remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies will accomplish this. 37:33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, nor will he build siege works against it. 37:34 He will go back the way he came– he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord. 37:35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” 37:36 The Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 troops in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! 37:37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 37:38 One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 37:29

¹ tc 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).

² sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

NET Notes: Isa 37:30

¹ tn 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).

² tn 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.

³ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

⁴ tn Heb “and in the second year” (so ASV).

⁵ tn Heb “in the third year” (so KJV, NAB).

⁶ tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 30b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity.

NET Notes: Isa 37:31

¹ tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”

NET Notes: Isa 37:32

¹ tn 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.

NET Notes: Isa 37:33

¹ tn Heb “there” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). In terms of English style “here” is expected in collocation with “this” in the previous line.

² tn Heb “[with] a shield” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV).

NET Notes: Isa 37:35

¹ tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”

NET Notes: Isa 37:36

¹ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

² tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

³ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

⁴ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

NET Notes: Isa 37:37

¹ tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”

NET Notes: Isa 37:38

¹ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

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

³ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

⁴ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.