31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; 1
a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. 2
They will run away from this sword 3
and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.
31:9 They will surrender their stronghold 4 because of fear; 5
their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.” 6
This is what the Lord says –
the one whose fire is in Zion,
whose firepot is in Jerusalem. 7
37:36 The Lord’s messenger 8 went out and killed 185,000 troops 9 in the Assyrian camp. When they 10 got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! 11 37:37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 12 37:38 One day, 13 as he was worshiping 14 in the temple of his god Nisroch, 15 his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. 16 They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.
1 tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”
2 tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”
3 tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”
4 tn Heb “rocky cliff” (cf. ASV, NASB “rock”), viewed metaphorically as a place of defense and security.
5 tn Heb “His rocky cliff, because of fear, will pass away [i.e., “perish”].”
6 tn Heb “and they will be afraid of the flag, his officers.”
7 sn The “fire” and “firepot” here symbolize divine judgment, which is heating up like a fire in Jerusalem, waiting to be used against the Assyrians when they attack the city.
8 tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
9 tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.
10 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
11 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”
12 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
13 sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681
14 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
15 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.
16 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.