Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the LORD by saying …: This is the Assyrian king’s second warning to the people of Jerusalem concerning Hezekiah. He tells them not to trust Hezekiah’s words to rely on Yahweh, because Yahweh will not be able to save them from the Assyrians. The Hebrew causative verb rendered make you rely on may be better understood if translated “persuade you to rely on,” as in Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible (similarly New International Version). By saying introduces a direct quote of Hezekiah.

The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria: Hezekiah assures the people that Yahweh will save Jerusalem from the Assyrians. The LORD will surely deliver us is literally “Delivering the LORD will deliver us.” The Hebrew verb for “deliver” is repeated for emphasis. Revised Standard Version adds the adverb surely to make this verb emphatic, but some languages may be able to repeat it for emphasis.

This city refers to Jerusalem. Translators may make this explicit if needed (see the third example below). Hand is an image for power or control. Given into the hand of may be rendered “handed over to” in English to retain some of the original idiom. The passive verb here may require an active form in some languages. If so, the last clause may be rendered “Yahweh will not hand over this city to the king of Assyria” or “Yahweh will stop the Assyrian army from capturing our city” (similarly Good News Translation).

Since Hezekiah’s words are within the speech of the Assyrian king, some languages may prefer to use an indirect quote here (see the second example below). Good News Translation does this, but fails to make it clear that Hezekiah is speaking. A better model is “Hezekiah wants to persuade you [or, make you think/believe] that the LORD will definitely save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following possibilities:

• Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust Yahweh to save you, saying, “Yahweh will certainly save us; he will not give our city over to the king of Assyria.”

• Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to believe Yahweh will rescue you. He will claim that Yahweh will definitely rescue you and that he won’t let the Assyrian army capture this city.

• Don’t let king Hezekiah lead you to expect that Yahweh can save you, claiming, “Yahweh will surely save us. This city, Jerusalem, will never be handed over to 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 .