I dug wells and drank waters: Sennacherib continues to boast here. He does not mention where he dug wells, but it could have been in Egypt, which he refers to in the last line. By digging wells there, he dominated it. One Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript adds the word “foreign” to the word waters. Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible follow this emended text. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project sees it as an attempt to harmonize this verse with 2 Kgs 19.24, so translators should not follow it.

And I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt: Sennacherib also boasts that his soldiers were so numerous that they dried up all the Egyptian rivers when they marched through them. Of course, this is another exaggeration. This claim by Sennacherib is a direct challenge to Yahweh’s power. Yahweh dried up the Reed Sea (or, Red Sea) at the time of the Exodus (see 51.10). The expression here is highly figurative. The sole of my foot refers to the trampling or marching of the Assyrian army. All the streams of Egypt probably refers to the various branches of the Nile River. Good News Translation says “the Nile River,” but this is too specific. The Hebrew word used for Egypt is an unusual one. It comes from a root meaning “to fortify,” so some commentators divide the Hebrew words of this line differently so that it reads “all the mountain streams.” Translators should follow the majority tradition here by referring to “Egypt.” Bible en français courant changes the focus of the last two lines but maintains the tone of boasting with “I will dry up the branches of the Nile, just by placing my feet on the Egyptian soil!”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• I dug wells and drank from them;
I marched across all the rivers of Egypt and made them dry.’

• I dug wells and drank water from them;
I dried up all the rivers of Egypt as I marched across them.’

• You claimed to have dug wells and drunk from them,
drying up all the rivers of Egypt as you [or, your army] marched across 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 .