Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
Strangers shall submit ... as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me - literally, the children of an unknown land. "As soon as they hear" - on the report of my extending course of conquests. х yitkachashuw (H3584) liy (H3807a), shall lie to me (cf. Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalms 66:3; Psalms 81:15), shall fawn upon or flatter me by professions of love and devotedness, which are only constrained tokens of homage, extorted from fear of the victor. An instance is furnished by the congratulatory message of Toi, king of Hamatch (2 Samuel 8:10). But yishaamª`uw (H8085) signifies 'are heard,' not 'are made to hear,' or 'obey;' and accordingly Hengstenberg maintains that it is both more grammatical, and more in the spirit of the parallelism, to render the clause, 'by the hearing of the ear these serve me,' or 'they who serve me are heard of me by the hearing of the ear.' I know them only by report.]