Isaiah 37:7

37:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; ¹  he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ²  with a sword in his own land.”’”

Isaiah 37:37-38

37:37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. ³  37:38 One day, ⁴  as he was worshiping ⁵  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ⁶  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ⁷  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

¹ tn 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.

² tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”

³ tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”

⁵ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

⁶ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

⁷ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

⁸ 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.