Isaiah 31:8-9

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 

Isaiah 37:36-38

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.

[31:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”

[31:8]  ² tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”

[31:8]  ³ tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”

[31:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “rocky cliff” (cf. ASV, NASB “rock”), viewed metaphorically as a place of defense and security.

[31:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “His rocky cliff, because of fear, will pass away [i.e., “perish”].”

[31:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they will be afraid of the flag, his officers.”

[31:9]  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.

[37:36]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ⁹ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ¹⁰ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”

[37:37]  ¹² tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”

[37:38]  ¹³ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  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.

[37:38]  ¹⁵ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  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.