The rhetorical questions in verses 12-13 are very similar to those in 36.18-20 (see the comments there). Sennacherib asserts that no gods were able to save their nations from Assyrian aggression. He implies that the same will be true for Judah.

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed…?: The gods of the nations are the various gods worshiped by different nations. My fathers refers to the Assyrian kings who preceded Sennacherib. Like Good News Translation, many versions say “my ancestors.” Another possible rendering is “my predecessors.”

Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar: Here Sennacherib lists some of the places conquered by Assyria. They were located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Gozan was a city on the upper reaches of the Habur River. Captives from Samaria were sent there (2 Kgs 17.6). Haran was an ancient city, the place where Abraham and his family stayed for a time on their journey to Canaan (Gen 11.31). Rezeph was a city that probably was located on the upper part of the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq. The exact location of Eden is uncertain, but it was a region somewhere in the central part of the Euphrates Valley (see Gen 2.8). Tel-assar was a city within Eden, maybe its capital city, so Bible en français courant renders the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar as “the capital of the Edenites, Telassar.” Instead of Eden, Good News Translation has “Betheden” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), based on Amos 1.5. It is better to keep Eden. New Jerusalem Bible emends the Hebrew text to read “Tel Basar,” instead of Tel-assar. However, we agree with Hebrew Old Testament Text Project that translators should not do this.

Good News Translation restructures the long rhetorical question of this verse into a strong statement, composed of two parts. Some languages will find it a good way to deal with this complex verse.

Several translation examples for this verse are:

• Have the gods of the cities of Gozan, Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar, been able to rescue them? No, my ancestors destroyed all these places.

• My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran and Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar. The gods of these cities were unable to rescue them.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .