37:8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. 3 37:9 The king 4 heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia 5 was marching out to fight him. 6 He again sent 7 messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:
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 the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”
6 tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”
7 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.”