2 Kings 18:19

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Rab-shakeh	רַב rav-	H7262	Rabshakeh · noun, masculine singular absolute
said	וַיֹּ֤אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Speak	אִמְרוּ 'im.ru-	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
Hezekiah	חִזְקִיָּ֑הוּ chiz.ki.Ya.hu	H2396	Chizkijah · proper noun, a man's name
saith	אָמַ֞ר 'a.Mar	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
great	הַגָּדוֹל֙ ha.ga.dOl	H1419	great (in any sense) · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
king	הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ ha.Me.lekh	H4428	a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
king	מֶ֣לֶךְ Me.lekh	H4428	a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Assyria	אַשּׁ֔וּר 'a.Shur	H804	Ashshur · proper noun, a place name
confidence	הַבִּטָּח֛וֹן ha.bi.ta.Chon	H986	trust · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
trustest	בָּטָֽחְתָּ ba.Ta.che.ta	H982	figuratively · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 36:4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou t…
2 Kings 19:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be de…
Isaiah 10:8-14 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
2 Kings 18:22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath s…
2 Kings 18:29-30 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
2 Chronicles 32:7-8 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more…
2 Chronicles 32:10-11 Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?
2 Chronicles 32:14-16 Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that yo…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 18:17–end

Here is, I. Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib's army, Kg2 18:17. He sent three of his great generals with a great host against Jerusalem. Is this the great king, the king of Assyria? No, never call him so; he is a base, false, perfidious man, and worthy to be made infamous to all ages; let him never be named with honour that could do such a dishonourable thing as this, to take Hezekiah's money, which he gave him upon condition he should withdraw his army, and then, instead of quitting his country according to the agreement, to advance against his capital city, and not send him his money again either. Those are wicked men indeed, and, let them be ever so great, we will call them so, whose pri…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 18:19

Rab-shakeh said--The insolent tone he assumed appears surprising. But this boasting [Kg2 18:19-25], both as to matter and manner, his highly colored picture of his master's powers and resources, and the impossibility of Hezekiah making any effective resistance, heightened by all the arguments and figures which an Oriental imagination could suggest, has been paralleled in all, except the blasphemy, by other messages of defiance sent on similar occasions in the history of the East.

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 18:19

What confidence is this - מה הבטחן הזה ma habbittachon hazzeh. The words are excessively insulting: What little, foolish, or unavailing cause of confidence is it, to which thou trustest? I translate thus, because I consider the word בטחון bittachon as a diminutive, intended to express the utmost contempt for Hezekiah's God.

John Gill on 2 Kings 18:17

And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem,.... Notwithstanding he took the above large sum of money of him, so false and deceitful was he: these were three generals of his army, whom he sent to besiege Jerusalem, while he continued the siege of Lachish; only Rabshakeh is mentioned in Isaiah 36:2 he being perhaps chief general, and the principal speaker; whose speech, to the end of this chapter, intended to intimidate Hezekiah, and dishearten his people, with some circumstances which attended it, are recorded word for word in Isaiah 36:1 throughout; See Gill on Isaiah 36:1 and notes on that chapter.

The Church Fathers

As I have already said, Sennacherib is a type of the devil, and this hypothesis is perfectly confirmed by the words that in this passage the Rabshakeh boastfully speaks against God when he makes false promises to the people, trying to take away from [God] the praise of his supreme power and giving assurance of a land of fertile soil and abundant crops in order to persuade them to abandon the region given to them by God and to move to the new dwelling places promised by the Assyrian. With a very similar artifice the accomplices and envoys of the devil endeavor to seduce a simple soul. And for this reason, in the first place, they try to uproot all the opinions that are inspired by divine providence.
— Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 18:19

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Assyria — The name derived from the city Asshur on the Tigris, the original capital of the country, was originally a colony from Babylonia, and was ruled by viceroys from that kingdom. It was a mountainous…
Rabshakeh — Chief of the princes, the name given to the chief cup-bearer or the vizier of the Assyrian court; one of Sennacherib’s messengers to Hezekiah. See the speech he delivered, in the Hebrew language, in…
Scribes — Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V.,…
Assyria · Sennacherib — Sennacherib
Boasting · .Sennacherib — .Sennacherib
Diplomacy · harangue — harangue
Hezekiah · .Military operations of — .Military operations of
Rab-Shakeh (Rabshakeh) · to Hezekiah and the surren — to Hezekiah and the surren
Sennacherib · and returns to Assyria — and returns to Assyria
War · Enemy harangued by the general of the opposing si — Enemy harangued by the general of the opposing si

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

2 Kings 18:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 18:17–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 18:19

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 18:19

John Gill on 2 Kings 18:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 18:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 18:17–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 18:19

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 18:19

John Gill on 2 Kings 18:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 18:13–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 18:19-22

Rashi on 2 Kings 18:18