Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD …: In verses 6-7 Isaiah responds with a message from Yahweh to Hezekiah through Hezekiah’s messengers. There are three levels of quotation here. Some languages may need to reduce them to one or two levels (so Good News Translation; see also the examples below). For the fixed formula Thus says the LORD, which is characteristic of prophetic speech, see the comments on 7.7.

Do not be afraid is a key expression in the book of Isaiah (see the comments on 7.4). It brings comfort and assurance. The Assyrian ambassador’s words frightened Hezekiah (see verses 3-4), so Yahweh first tells him not to be afraid.

Because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me: This gives the reason for Hezekiah’s fear. He is afraid because he heard the Assyrian officials, especially the ambassador, blaspheme Yahweh. These words also imply that Yahweh heard what he said when he was mocking Yahweh (36.13-20). The Hebrew word translated servants is not the usual word for “servants.” A more literal translation is “boys.” Some interpreters think that Isaiah uses a term that shows contempt in this context. New International Version renders it well with “underlings,” which is similar to “minions” in Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh. The Hebrew verb rendered reviled is similar in meaning to the word for “mock” in verse 4. It is a term for blaspheming or saying evil things about God. Good News Translation freely translates have reviled me as “he [the LORD] cannot save you.” It omits the idea of blasphemy, but translators should keep it (see the third example below, which follows Good News Translation with “Yahweh cannot save you,” but adds that this is a “blasphemous claim”).

The relative clauses that you have heard and with which the servants … reviled me both refer back to the noun words. This complex structure can be simplified by saying “because of what you heard the servants … say when they spoke against me.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• … Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master the king, ‘Yahweh says don’t be afraid because of what you heard the servants of the Assyrian king say when they spoke against Yahweh.

• … Isaiah told the Hezekiah’s servants, “Tell your master that Yahweh says he need not be afraid because he heard the underlings of the Assyrian king blaspheme Yahweh.

• … Isaiah advised King Hezekiah’s servants, “Yahweh says that the king must not to be afraid even though he has heard the blasphemous claim that Yahweh cannot save him, a claim made by the servants of the king of Assyria.

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 .