“Like birds hovering.” Just as birds hover around their nest and their young to protect them, so Yahweh would hover around Jerusalem to protect it. And Yahweh did hover around Jerusalem during the time of Isaiah and the Assyrians, who eventually came to attack Jerusalem but were defeated by God’s direct action (2 Kings 19:35-36). However, the people of Judah and Jerusalem became increasingly ungodly and so God could no longer protect them and they were conquered by the Babylonians (2 Kings 24, 25).