Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear …: The king’s petition here opens with five imperative verbs: Incline, hear, open, see, and hear. Incline thy ear is a Hebrew idiom for “listen” and is synonymous in meaning with hear. Likewise, open thy eyes means the same as see. Such redundancy is typical of Hebrew, but it may be awkward in other languages. Good News Translation reduces these pairs to single verbs and supplies objects for them: “hear us and look at what is happening.” Another possible model is “hear our prayer and see this letter.” However, if possible, translators should use general expressions rather than identifying what the king wants God to hear and see.

All the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God refers directly to the words contained in Sennacherib’s letter, but it could also include everything he said earlier through his ambassador. For to mock the living God, see the comments on Isa 37.4. Since Hezekiah is addressing God, Good News Translation says “to insult you, the living God,” which may be helpful for other languages.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• LORD, listen to my prayer, open your eyes and see; note all that Sennacherib has said to mock you, the living God, and that he has sent to us.

• O Yahweh, listen to my prayer; O Yahweh, look and see, listen to all that Sennacherib has said and sent to mock you, the living God.

• O Yahweh, listen; O Yahweh, look, hear everything that Sennacherib has said. He has sent this to mock you, the living God.

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 .