2 Raja-raja 19:6-13

19:6 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. ¹  19:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; ²  he will receive ³  a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down ⁴  with a sword in his own land.”’”

19:8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. ⁵  19:9 The king ⁶  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. ⁷  He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: 19:10 “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 ⁸  to the king of Assyria.” 19:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ⁹  Do you really think you will be rescued? ¹⁰  19:12 Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ¹¹  19:13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of Lair, ¹²  Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

[19:6]  ¹ tn Heb “by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.”

[19:7]  ² 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.

[19:7]  ³ tn Heb “hear.”

[19:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “cause him to fall,” that is, “kill him.”

[19:8]  ⁵ 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.”

[19:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘Look, he has come out to fight with you.’”

[19:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “will not be given.”

[19:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”

[19:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”

[19:12]  ¹¹ 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?”

[19:13]  ¹² sn Lair is a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.