Rashi on the Former Prophets

[And] debate. That the wicked are debating and showing evidence to [support] their words, claiming, “We have the power and the strength.”
Children. Yisroel.
As far as the birthstool. As far as a distress similar to a woman sitting on the birthstool, but not having strength to give birth.

And he brought proof with the words. Aprover, in O.F., He showed evidence to [support] his statement, [namely,] that he prospered wherever he went.

And he will hear a rumor. And he will withdraw from you and return to his land. He will not [return] because of the rumor, but after a while he will return to his land in disgrace, and I will cause him to fall there by the sword. Now what was the rumor? ”And he heard about Tirhaikoh.” He heard that Tirhaikoh had gone out to wage war against him, so, he left Yerusholayim and went to Cush, and waged war with Tirhaikoh, and Egypt, who were with him. He defeated him and took their most coveted treasures, and came to Yerusholayim, where he fell. In reference to this, Yeshayohu stated, ”The toil of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, etc., will become yours, etc.”

He again sent messengers. To notify him that he was not returning to his land, rather he was waging war with Cush, and then to return here.

Eden. The name of a province.

He exiled and twisted. The king of Ashur exiled and twisted them.

Indeed. It is true that the kings of Ashur destroyed the peoples and put their deities in fire.

The highest mountains. [This refers to] the Temple Mount.
To the end of the Levanon. [This refers to] the Beis Hamikdosh which whitens [=מלבן] sins.
And I will cut down its tallest cedar [trees]. I will not return until I have destroyed it.
Remotest. Its end.
Its fruitful forest. The fullness of its land and the beauty of its splendor.

I dug and drank strange water. I.e., I started all my deeds and completed [them], as one who digs a hole and finds flowing water and drinks it. Flowing water he calls “זרים [=strange],” because until now no one knew of them.
And I dry up with the soles of my feet. If I besiege a city that depends upon its rivers, I bring many troops upon it who dry up its rivers with their drinking and the drinking of their cattle and by the treading of their feet.
And I dry up. This is in the present tense [because] this is always my way.

Have you not heard from afar. Why do you glorify and aggrandize yourself with this? This is not yours, for you have heard from afar through the prophets, that I decreed upon the nations to bring you upon them, as the matter that is stated, ”Ho, Ashur, the staff of My wrath.”
In days of yore. Since the world was created, it entered My thought, as it is stated, ”For [Gehinnom] is arranged from days of yore; that too was prepared for the king.” This refers to Sancheiriv, who was burned in the fire of Gehinnom, as it is stated, ”The word of Adonoy, Who has fire in Tzion.”
Now I have brought it about. And this is the power that is in your hand.
And it shall be. The coming of My decree shall be to make desolate fortified cities into blossoming hills, into piles of earth upon which vegetables grow, for you destroy them because of My decree.
To make desolate. An expression of desolation, forsaken.

Their inhabitants were short of strength. Those whom I weakened before you, and the might is not yours. You are not mighty, rather they are weak.
Like grass of the rooftops. Which dries quickly.
And wind blast before [becoming] standing grain. Like blasted stalks of grain, before they hardened to become standing grain.

Your sitting and your going out and your coming in. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, ”And your sitting in counsel, and your going out to wage war, and your coming to the land of Yisroel, is revealed to Me;” it emanated from Me.
And your raging against Me. And that ultimately you will become arrogant and aroused against Me with anger and tumult, estorimir, in O.F..

And your tumult. [Means] the same as ושאונך [=your tumult].
My ring. A kind of ring by which they pull an animal whose behavior is bad, as we learned, ”And all animals that are usually pulled with a ring may go out [on Shabbos] with a ring.”
And my bit. [Targum] Yonoson rendered זמם, which is made of iron, and which is inserted into the nostrils of a female camel, and she is pulled with it, because her behavior is bad. This is what we learned, ”And the female camel [may go out on Shabbos] with a nose ring.”

And this shall be the sign for you. The prophet said to Chizkiyohu, ”And this prophecy which I said to you that Sancheiriv will fall here, will be a sign for you also for the approaching days, for you are afraid of dying from hunger, because Sancheiriv destroyed the land and chopped down the trees.”
This year you will eat what grows by itself. This year plants will grow for you, and you will be sustained by them.
What grows from the tree stumps. The chopped off trees that will sprout, and when you see My word fulfilled concerning the fall of the armies, it will be a sign for you that this promise, too, will be fulfilled.

The zeal of Adonoy of Hosts. That He will be zealous for His honor and for His Name, not that you have any merit, for Achaz your father committed many wicked deeds.

He will not advance upon it. He will not set a shield before it.
A ramp. A heap of earth to raise a mount upon which to stand to wage war against the city, and because one presses it down and beats it with sticks and sledge hammers, so that it becomes trodden and pressed down with strength, it is called סוללה, an expression of, “Beat down [=סולו], beat down [=סולו] the highway.”

And it was that night. When Sancheiriv returned from [battling] with Cush, and he came as far as Nov, which was near Yerusholayim. of Nov, and it was therefore decreed that his descendants would be liable for punishment for many years. This was the last day of the decree, as stated in Yeshayohu 10:32, “Yet today he will stand in Nov.”
One hundred eighty-five thousand. All of them were heads of companies.

And dwelt in Nineveh. It was the capital of Ashur.

In the temple of Nisroch his god. A board from Noach's ark.
Slew him with a sword. They heard him that he said he would slaughter them before him if they would spare him, so that they would not kill him---the princes of the kingdom, whose sons perished on account of him.