4. into the middle court] R.V. middle part of the city. The
variation is due to a difference of reading, the R.V. translating, as
is nearly always the case, the Krthib. The LXX. and most of the
versions render the Keri, which the A.V. follows. The Kethib has
"VEil, the Keri substitutes IVn, which latter is the word for the
'court' of the palace in the description of Solomon's buildings (i Kings
vii. 8). But the city of Jerusalem was built on two hills, the western
of which was more than a hundred feet higher than the eastern. The
expression in the text would apply exactly to the portion lying between
these two, and there seems to be no reason for accepting the Keri.
It probably has sprung from a desire to represent God as hearing
prayer so readily that a favourable answer was given before the prophet
was beyond the precincts of the palace.
A description of the city will be found in Josephus, B. y. v. 4, i,
scqq. where the three parts of Jerusalem are noticed, the upper city
(rj dm irAts) being Zion, the lower (rj /carw ic6\is) Akra. Isaiah had,
according to the Kethib, gone into the portion between these two.
5. tell [R.V. say to] Hezekiah the captain [R.V. prince] of my
people] The first of these changes is in conformity with Isaiah. The
latter clause 'the captain &c.' is not in the parallel place in Isaiah,
where, in this portion of the narrative, the whole record is much
briefer.
The name 'prince' (Heb. nagid) is that which was applied by
Jehovah Himself to the first elected king of Israel (1 Sam. ix. x6),
Saul.
