But I know - The language of God. 'I am well acquainted with all that pertains to you. You neither go out to war, nor return, nor abide in your capital without my providential direction' (see the notes at Isaiah 10:5-7).

Thy abode - Margin, 'Sitting.' Among the Hebrews, sitting down, rising up, and going out, were phrases to describe the whole of a man's life and actions (compare Deuteronomy 6:7; Deuteronomy 28:6; 1 Kings 3:7; Psalm 121:8). God here says that he knew the place where he dwelt, and he was able to return him again to it Isaiah 37:29.

And thy rage against me - (See Isaiah 37:4).

But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in,.... Where he dwelt, what he did at home, his secret councils, cabals, contrivances, schemes and plans for the compassing of his ends, the subduing of kingdoms, and setting up an universal monarchy; and his going out of Babylon, his marches, and counter marches, and his entrance into the land of Judea; there was not a motion made, or a step taken in the cabinet or camp, but what were known to the Lord; so the Targum,

"thy sitting in council, and thy going out abroad to make war, and thy coming into the land of Israel, are manifest before me:''

and thy rage against me; against his people, against the city that was called by his name, against the temple where he was worshipped, particularly against his servant Hezekiah, because he would not immediately deliver up the city to him. The Targum and Syriac versions render it, "before me"; and then the meaning is, "thy rage", wrath and fury, "is before me": or manifest to me; and which he could restrain at pleasure, as he promises to do in the next verse.

Asshur is Jehovah's chosen instrument while thus casting down the nations, which are "short-handed against him," i.e., incapable of resisting him. But Jehovah afterwards places this lion under firm restraint; and before it has reached the goal set before it, He leads it back into its own land, as if with a ring through its nostril. Fifth turn, "And thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy entering in, I know; and thy heating thyself against me. On account of thy heating thyself against me, and because thy self-confidence has risen up into mine ears, I put my ring into thy nose, and my muzzle into thy lips, and lead thee back by the way by which thou hast come." Sitting down and rising up (Psalm 139:2), going out and coming in (Psalm 121:8), denote every kind of human activity. All the thoughts and actions, the purposes and undertakings of Sennacherib, more especially with regard to the people of Jehovah, were under divine control. יען is followed by the infinitive, which is then continued in the finite verb, just as in Isaiah 30:12. שׁאננך (another reading, שׁאננך) is used as a substantive, and denotes the Assyrians' complacent and scornful self-confidence (Psalm 123:4), and has nothing to do with שׁאון (Targum, Abulw., Rashi, Kimchi, Rosenmller, Luzzatto). The figure of the leading away with a nose-ring (chachı̄ with a latent dagesh, חא to prick, hence chōach, Arab. chōch, chōcha, a narrow slit, literally means a cut or aperture) is repeated in Ezekiel 38:4. Like a wild beast that had been subdued by force, the Assyrian would have to return home, without having achieved his purpose with Judah (or with Egypt).

But I know thy abode, and thy {t} going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

(t) Meaning, his counsels and enterprises.

abode: or, sitting

28. abode-rather, "sitting down" (Ps 139:2). The expressions here describe a man's whole course of life (De 6:7; 28:6; 1Ki 3:7; Ps 121:8). There is also a special reference to Sennacherib's first being at home, then going forth against Judah and Egypt, and raging against Jehovah (Isa 37:4).

37:1-38 This chapter is the same as 2Ki 19