Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet … prayed because of this: Isaiah is the prophet known from the book of Isaiah. The story of King Hezekiah’s encounter with the Assyrians is told again in chapters 36–39 of the book of the prophet Isaiah, where it is very similar to the account in 2 Kgs 18.13–20.19. The phrase because of this may be understood as meaning either “because of the comparison of their God to the pagan gods of other nations” or, more generally, “because of the whole message of the Assyrian king.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version leave this phrase implicit, but it is probably better to make it explicit in translation.

And cried to heaven: The word heaven is a euphemism for God in this context. Also, the verb prayed and the expression cried to heaven are synonymous and may be better translated together in some languages as “cried out to God in prayer.” Others may prefer to say “cried out to God in heaven for help.” Good News Translation supplies the implied information that the king and the prophet were praying “for help.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .