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 37:12-14

37:12 Were the nations whom my predecessors ³  destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ⁴  37:13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, ⁵  Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

37:14 Hezekiah took the letter ⁶  from the messengers and read it. ⁷  Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

[37:7]  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.

[37:7]  ² tn Heb “cause him to fall” (so KJV, ASV, NAB), that is, “kill him.”

[37:12]  ³ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “forefathers”; NCV “ancestors.”

[37:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”

[37:13]  ⁵ sn Lair was a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.

[37:14]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has the plural, “letters.” The final mem (ם) may be dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular. If so, one still has to deal with the yod that is part of the plural ending. J. N. Oswalt refers to various commentators who have suggested ways to understand the plural form (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:652).

[37:14]  ⁸ tn In the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:14 the verb has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual corruption (of “letter” to “letters”).