2 Raja-raja 19:21

19:21 This is what the Lord says about him: ¹ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ² 

despises you, she makes fun of you;

Daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ³ 

2 Raja-raja 20:10-11

20:10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for it ⁴  to go back ten steps.” 20:11 Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and the Lord ⁵  made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz. ⁶ 

[19:21]  ¹ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

[19:21]  ² sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

[19:21]  ³ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

[20:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “the shadow.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, back ten steps.”

[20:11]  sn These steps probably functioned as a type of sundial. See HALOT 614 s.v. מַעֲלָה and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 256.