Isaiah 37:33
ESV
"Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.
NIV
"Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: "He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.
NASB
Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an assault ramp against it.
CSB
"Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city, shoot an arrow here, come before it with a shield, or build up a siege ramp against it.
NLT
And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: '‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls.
KJV
Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
NKJV
“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
What does Isaiah 37:33 mean?
The Lord has promised rescue to King Hezekiah, sending a message through Isaiah (Isaiah 37:21–22). The Assyrian army (Isaiah 36:1–3) will be turned away (Isaiah 37:29), and a band of survivors will thrive in the land once more (Isaiah 37:32). Much of Judah's population seems to have been taken by the Assyrian invasion, by death or capture. The remainder remains huddled in Jerusalem, alive but vulnerable to Assyria's standard invasion tactic: a siege (Isaiah 36:12–15).Here, God adds even better news to His promise. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, will never set foot in Jerusalem. He will not shoot a single arrow, carry a single shield, or dig a single fortification against Jerusalem's walls. This will not be a miraculous victory in battle. Rather, the battle will never happen.
It's unclear whether the full force of the Assyrian army ever closed in on Jerusalem. If they did, we have no record of how far preparations for a siege of Jerusalem advanced. Sennacherib's annals—his personal records which are not part of the biblical record—claim he succeed in making Hezekiah a prisoner in Jerusalem. That may mean that the Assyrian forces succeeded in surrounding the city before they were wiped out in a single night (Isaiah 37:36). Either way, they never attacked the city, fulfilling this promise from God.
