2 Raja-raja 19:29-31

19:29 ¹ This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: ²  This year you will eat what grows wild, ³  and next year ⁴  what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ⁵  19:30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit. ⁶ 

19:31 For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the sovereign Lord ⁷  to his people ⁸  will accomplish this.

[19:29]  ¹ tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).

[19:29]  ² tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.

[19:29]  ³ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

[19:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in the second year.”

[19:29]  ⁵ tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.

[19:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”

[19:31]  ⁷ tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”

[19:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them. The Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, has “the zeal of the LORD of hosts” rather than “the zeal of the LORD” (Kethib). The translation follows the Qere here.