Isaiah 10:9-11

10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?

Hamath like Arpad?

Samaria like Damascus? ¹ 

10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, ² 

whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s ³  or Samaria’s.

10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,

so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ⁴ 

Isaiah 36:1-2

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, ⁵  King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 36:2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser ⁶  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ⁷  along with a large army. The chief adviser ⁸  stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ⁹ 

Isaiah 18:1

The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South

18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, ¹⁰ 

the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

[10:9]  ¹ sn Calneh … Carchemish … Hamath … Arpad … Samaria … Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717 b.c. The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one can stand before Assyria’s might. On the geographical, rather than chronological arrangement of the cities, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:264, n. 4.

[10:10]  ² tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).

[10:10]  ³ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:11]  ⁴ tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?”

[36:1]  ⁵ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[36:2]  ⁶ sn For a discussion of this title see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.

[36:2]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the chief adviser) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[36:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.