Isaiah 7:17

7:17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time ¹  unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah – the king of Assyria!” ² 

Isaiah 8:7

8:7 So look, the sovereign master ³  is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River ⁴  – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. ⁵ 

Isaiah 10:12

10:12 But when ⁶  the sovereign master ⁷  finishes judging ⁸  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ⁹  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 20:6

20:6 At that time ¹¹  those who live on this coast ¹²  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Isaiah 36:2

36:2 The king of Assyria sent his chief adviser ¹³  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ¹⁴  along with a large army. The chief adviser ¹⁵  stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 36:4

36:4 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 36:16

36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ¹⁸  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Isaiah 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ¹⁹  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ²⁰  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ²¹ 

Isaiah 37:6

37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ²² 

Isaiah 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 37:21

37:21 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Because you prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, ²³ 

Isaiah 37:33

37:33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here. ²⁴ 

He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, ²⁵ 

nor will he build siege works against it.

[7:17]  ¹ tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB); NASB, NRSV “such days.”

[7:17]  ² sn Initially the prophecy appears to be a message of salvation. Immanuel seems to have a positive ring to it, sour milk and honey elsewhere symbolize prosperity and blessing (see Deut 32:13-14; Job 20:17), verse 16 announces the defeat of Judah’s enemies, and verse 17a could be taken as predicting a return to the glorious days of David and Solomon. However, the message turns sour in verses 17b-25. God will be with his people in judgment, as well as salvation. The curds and honey will be signs of deprivation, not prosperity, the relief announced in verse 16 will be short-lived, and the new era will be characterized by unprecedented humiliation, not a return to glory. Because of Ahaz’s refusal to trust the Lord, potential blessing would be transformed into a curse, just as Isaiah turns an apparent prophecy of salvation into a message of judgment. Because the words “the king of Assyria” are rather awkwardly tacked on to the end of the sentence, some regard them as a later addition. However, the very awkwardness facilitates the prophet’s rhetorical strategy here, as he suddenly turns what sounds like a positive message into a judgment speech. Actually, “the king of Assyria,” stands in apposition to the earlier object “days,” and specifies who the main character of these coming “days” will be.

[8:7]  ³ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the mighty and abundant waters of the river.” The referent of “the river” here, the Euphrates River, has been specified in the translation for clarity. As the immediately following words indicate, these waters symbolize the Assyrian king and his armies which will, as it were, inundate the land.

[8:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”

[10:12]  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.

[10:12]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ⁸ tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.

[20:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[20:6]  ⁸ sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).

[36:2]  ⁹ sn For a discussion of this title see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229-30.

[36:2]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the chief adviser) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[36:2]  ¹² tn Heb “the field of the washer”; traditionally “the fuller’s field” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[36:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”

[36:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

[37:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

[37:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[37:21]  ¹⁹ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:20 reads, “That which you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.” The verb “I have heard” does not appear in Isa 37:21, where אֲשֶׁר (’asher) probably has a causal sense: “because.”

[37:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “there” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). In terms of English style “here” is expected in collocation with “this” in the previous line.

[37:33]  ²² tn Heb “[with] a shield” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV).