Isaiah 37:27-29

Contemporary English Version

²⁷Their people became weak,
    terribly confused.
They were like wild flowers
or like tender young grass
    growing on a flat roof
or like a field of grain
    before it matures.^[a]

²⁸I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
    you are with me.
²⁹I have seen your pride
and the tremendous hatred
    you have for me.
Now I will put a hook
in your nose,
    a bit in your mouth,^[b]
then I will send you back
    to where you came from.

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Footnotes

37.27 tender young grass … matures: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls and some Hebrew manuscripts “tender young grass, growing on a flat roof and scorched by the heat.” Many of the houses had roofs made of packed earth. Grass would sometimes grow on the roof, but would die quickly because of the sun and hot winds.
37.29 I will put … your mouth: This is how the Assyrians treated their prisoners, and now the Lord will treat Sennacherib the same way.