Isaiah 37:7-9

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.”’”

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:

[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.”

[37:8]  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.”

[37:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”

[37:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”

[37:9]  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.”