The Hebrew verbal transition meaning “And it happened” occurs at the beginning of this verse, but it is ignored by most translations since it simply introduces a new paragraph here.

When King Hezekiah heard it: The pronoun it refers to the report of the three officials to King Hezekiah concerning what the Assyrian king said through his ambassador (36.22). Good News Translation says “their report” for clarity.

He rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD: The king responds to the threatening words in three ways. First, like his officials (36.22), he tore his clothes. Second, he put on sackcloth (see the comments on 3.24). Both these actions demonstrate the king’s deep anguish and distress. Third, he entered the house of the LORD, which was the Temple in Jerusalem (see 2.2). We are not told what the king did there, but he probably went there to pray (see verse 15).

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• When King Hezekiah heard his officers’ report, in despair he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he went to Yahweh’s Temple.

• When King Hezekiah listened to his officers’ report, he was grieved, tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to Yahweh’s Temple.

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 .