This verse begins with the common Hebrew conjunction. Here it introduces a contrast with the previous two verses. Even though it was God’s will for Sennacherib to destroy fortified cities, he will punish him for doing it because of his arrogance. Good News Translation, New International Version, and New Jerusalem Bible use the connector “But” to express this contrast. Like Revised Standard Version, many versions leave it implied.

I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in: On the basis of evidence from Dead Sea Scrolls, this verse probably begins with a word meaning “your rising up” (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). If so, there are two pairs of expressions here: “rising up” and sitting down, going out and coming in. These word pairs are common in Hebrew, referring figuratively to everything a person does. So Yahweh knows everything about Sennacherib. Good News Translation expresses this all-inclusive statement well: “I know everything about you, what you do and where you go.” Other translations preserve the literal references to standing up and sitting, coming and going; for example, Bible en français courant has “I know all about you: when you get up or when you sit down, when you go out or when you enter.” However, this may not be natural or properly understood in many languages. The verb for know occurs at the end of these two lines in Hebrew, so it is emphatic. New Jerusalem Bible preserves this emphasis by saying, “whether you stand up or sit down, whether you go out or come in, I know it.” The repetition of the pronoun your emphasizes the whole statement.

And your raging against me refers to the loud, arrogant claims that Sennacherib made in opposition to Yahweh. The word raging in English generally implies some form of an angry, violent outburst. However, the context here suggests that the Assyrian king is more arrogant than angry. New Jerusalem Bible uses the word “rave” (that is, to talk wildly and irrationally), which is a better choice for the Hebrew word here.

Revised English Bible omits this last line, and New Jerusalem Bible places it between parentheses. Some commentators believe it should be omitted because it is repeated in the first line of the next verse. The Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts omit it in verse 29, but not here. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project strongly recommends keeping it in both verses, so translators should not delete it in either verse.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• “But I know everything you do and everywhere you go,
and your raving against me.

• “Your rising and sitting, your coming and going,
and your raving against me, all this I know.

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 .