And renders the Hebrew verbal transition marker that is sometimes translated “And it happened.” See the comments on this construction at 2 Kgs 8.3.

Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court: The parallel passage in Isa 38.4 omits this detail about Isaiah’s location when the LORD spoke to him. And the traditional Hebrew text here has “the middle city” instead of the middle court, but it is almost universally agreed that the word for “city” is a corruption of the word meaning “courtyard” since this is what the marginal correction of the Hebrew text itself indicates. The expression probably refers to the central court of the palace where Isaiah had been visiting the ailing king, or possibly a courtyard between the Temple and the royal palace (see 1 Kgs 7.8-9, 12; Jer 36.20). Revised English Bible renders this as “the citadel,” but a rendering such as “the central courtyard of the palace” (Good News Translation; similarly New American Bible) is more likely the intended meaning.

The word of the LORD came to him: See the comments on 1 Kgs 6.11. The prophet Isaiah had apparently said goodbye to the king and had started on his way when he was interrupted by a new message from Yahweh. Another possible rendering for this clause is “the LORD spoke [directly] to him.” In many languages this clause will come more naturally at the beginning of the verse. So the verse could be restructured as follows:

• The LORD spoke to Isaiah before he had left the middle court.

In other languages a more natural way to handle the structure of this verse might be to say something like the following:

• Isaiah left the presence of the king, but while he was still in the central courtyard of the palace, the LORD spoke to him.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .