Any of the gods of the nations: The Hebrew word translated nations refers to ethnic groups other than the people of Israel. This should probably be made clear in translation (so Good News Translation “any other nations”). The Hebrew word for nations here and the word rendered “countries” in verse 35 should not be understood in the modern sense of nations and states. These words refer to groups of people living in certain territories. For this reason these nations can also be referred to as specific cities in verse 34. In some languages where it is very unnatural to pluralize the word for God, it may be necessary to translate the whole phrase here as “any of the objects that the people of other nations worship as God.”

As in verse 30, the verb delivered is an emphatic construction in Hebrew, but most translations do not express the emphasis here. Revised Standard Version reflects it with the word ever. The emphasis should be kept if possible.

His land; that is, the land where the non-Assyrian deity is worshiped.

The word hand again refers to power (see verses 29 and 30).

If it is more natural to avoid the rhetorical question in this verse, the following model might be helpful:

• None of the objects which other people worship as God has ever saved them and their land from the power of the king of Assyria.

Since the king of Assyria is speaking here, it may be necessary in some languages to change “from the power of the king of Assyria” to “from my power.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .