Isaiah 37:33-38 New English Translation
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.[a]
He will not attack it with his shielded warriors,[b]
nor will he build siege works against it.
34 He will go back the way he came—
he will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.
35 I will shield this city and rescue it
for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”[c]
36 The angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 troops[d] in the Assyrian camp. When they[e] got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses![f] 37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.[g] 38 One day,[h] as he was worshiping[i] in the temple of his god Nisroch,[j] his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.[k] They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Isaiah 37:33 tn Heb “there” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). In terms of English style “here” is expected in collocation with “this” in the previous line.
- Isaiah 37:33 tn Heb “[with] a shield” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV).
- Isaiah 37:35 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
- Isaiah 37:36 tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.
- Isaiah 37:36 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
- Isaiah 37:36 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”
- Isaiah 37:37 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
- Isaiah 37:38 sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.
- Isaiah 37:38 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
- Isaiah 37:38 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a textual variation of Nusku, the Mesopotamian god of light and fire. Other proposals have tried to relate the name to Ashur, the chief god of the Assyria, or to Ninurta, the Assyrian god of war.
- Isaiah 37:38 sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.
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