The king heard is literally “he heard.” The vast majority of modern English versions translate the pronoun “he” with a noun phrase like “the king” or the proper name of the king. Bible en français courant has “the king of Assyria was informed,” while New International Version translates “Sennacherib received a report.”
Tirhakah king of Ethiopia: Ethiopia is literally “Cush” (so Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). Early editions of Good News Translation had “Sudan.” As the Good News Translation footnote indicates, the Hebrew term on which these translations are based is “Cush.” This was an area to the south of Egypt which covered parts of both modern states known as Ethiopia and Sudan. “Cush” should probably not be translated Sudan or Ethiopia since neither modern state corresponds precisely to the geography of the Old Testament. Many modern versions transliterate the term “Cush.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible have “Nubia.” Either of these solutions has the advantage of avoiding the controversy over choosing one of the two modern African nations and will also probably be more accurate.
The problem here is further complicated by the fact that Tirhakah is known to be the name of a king of Egypt who ruled about 690–664 B.C., during the so-called “Ethiopian dynasty.” Non-biblical sources tell of King Sennacherib’s encounter with Egyptian forces on the Plain of Eltekeh, and many scholars believe that this confirms the biblical account. In any case, the meaning seems to be that the ruler in question was of Cushite (“Ethiopian”) origin, but was actually ruler over Egypt. This explains why New International Version and New Century Version translate “Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt” and why Good News Translation speaks of “the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia.”
Behold, he has set out to fight against you: Once again the Hebrew focusing particle rendered Behold serves to call special attention to the words that follow. See the comments on verse 7. In certain languages it will be much more natural to make the direct quotation here indirect as in Good News Translation.
He sent messengers again to Hezekiah: The words he sent … again are literally “he returned and he sent.” This Hebrew idiom means “he sent again.” It is also possible, but not likely, that each verb has its own meaning, that is, the king returned to his own land (in fulfillment of verse 7) and then he sent a message.
The Assyrian king sent messengers with a letter or a written note of some kind. This becomes evident in verse 14 where the text speaks of “the letter.” In some languages it may be necessary at this point to introduce the notion that a written message was involved. Contemporary English Version does this by translating the last part of this verse as follows: “Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah.” The actual content of the note then follows in verses 10-13.
There is a slight difference in the wording between this verse and the parallel account in Isa 37.9, where the words Behold and again do not appear. Isaiah also has two separate sentences, but the writer of 2 Kings has a temporal clause and a main clause.
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 .