Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria,
&c.] The issue of his expedition, and the fruitfulness of it; how vain his attempts would be, and how successless in this undertaking:
he shall not come into this city;
shall not enter into it, and take possession of it, though so sure of it; or, "shall not come unto it {w}"; for some think he never was any nearer it than Libnah, from whence he sent his letters to Hezekiah, ( Isaiah 37:8 Isaiah 37:9 ) ,
nor shoot an arrow there;
neither he nor his archers, so as to annoy or kill anyone person in it:
nor come before it with shields;
or, "with a shield"; that is, he himself with one; otherwise his army under Rabshakeh was before it with men armed with shields; or the sense is, he shall not prevent it, or seize upon it, with his shielded men:
nor cast a bank against it;
raise a mount, in order to fix his batteries upon, and play his artillery from, and shoot his arrows in to greater advantage.