There is a change of focus in verses 33-35. Speaking through Isaiah, Yahweh assures Hezekiah that he will protect Jerusalem from the Assyrian army. Most versions begin a new paragraph here.

The connector Therefore introduces the prophet’s concluding words to Hezekiah. He can assure Hezekiah that Sennacherib’s plans for Jerusalem will fail because Yahweh is in control of Assyria (see verses 26-29). Good News Translation begins simply with “And” for the new topic. However, it is better to use a connector that marks what follows as a conclusion.

Thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria …: These words introduce what Yahweh says he will do to the Assyrian emperor, so a speech within a speech follows (see the introductory comments on this section [37.21-38]). Good News Translation uses single quote marks around the embedded speech. Translators may use indirect speech if that is preferred (see the second example below). For thus says the LORD, see the comments on 7.7.

He shall not come into this city assures Hezekiah that Jerusalem will be safe from the Assyrian invasion. The pronoun He refers to Sennacherib and his army.

Or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it: These three statements support the previous promise. The Assyrian soldiers will not shoot arrows into Jerusalem, they will not attack it protected by their shields, and they will not build siege mounds around it. Yahweh will prevent these various battle tactics from happening to Jerusalem. Isaiah often uses three or four expressions to present one idea. Each time or may be rendered “and he will not.” For arrow see 5.28; for shield see 21.5 (see 23.13; 29.3). A siege mound was a pile of dirt that soldiers built up against the wall of a city they were attacking. When the pile of dirt was as high as the top of the wall, the attackers would use it as a road to enter the city. New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and Revised English Bible have “siege ramp,” while New Jerusalem Bible says “earthwork.” Cast up a siege mound against it may be rendered simply “besiege it” or “surround it.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• “Therefore this is what Yahweh says about the king of Assyria: ‘He and his soldiers will not enter this city, they will not shoot arrows into it, they will not attack it protected by their shields, and they will not build siege mounds against it.

• “Therefore Yahweh’s message about the Assyrian king is that he and his troops will not enter this city, nor fire arrows into it, nor come near it with shields, nor besiege it.

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 .