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In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·ḇə·’ar·ba‘ ‘eś·rêh šā·nāh ḥiz·qî·yāh lam·me·leḵ san·ḥê·rîḇ me·leḵ- ’aš·šūr ‘ā·lāh ‘al way·yiṯ·pə·śêm kāl- hab·bə·ṣu·rō·wṯ ‘ā·rê yə·hū·ḏāh
Word by word15 · parsed
√ ʼarbaʻ — fourConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNumberfeminine singular
ʼarbaʻ: four The unit's most contested datum sits in its first word. Ellicott, Barnes and Pulpit all note that Sennacherib's own annals fix the Judean campaign at 701 B.C., roughly twenty years after Samaria fell, while this synchronism with 2 Kings 18:10 leaves only eight. The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible records the tension rather than resolving it: the number stands in the Hebrew text, and the Assyrian records stand too.
√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumberfeminine singular
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
√ melek — a kingPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular
√ Çanchêrîyb — Sancherib, an Assyrian kingNounpropermasculine singular
√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct
√ ʼAshshûwr — Ashshur, the second son of ShemNounproperfeminine singular
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
ʻâlâh: to ascend, go up The verb of ascent used for worshippers going up to the house of the LORD is here used of an invader. Judah's own idiom of pilgrimage is turned into the idiom of siege, and what comes up to Jerusalem in this chapter is Asshur rather than Israel.
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
√ tâphas — to manipulate, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural
tâphas: to lay hold of, seize A hand-verb: to grasp, to handle (it is used of handling a harp, a sword, a bow). The narrator does not say Sennacherib besieged or destroyed; he says he took the cities in hand. Pulpit gives Sennacherib's own count from the Eponym Canon, forty-six strong cities “I besieged, I captured.”
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
kôl: the whole Read absolutely, this “all” contradicts 2 Kings 18:17 and 2 Kings 19:8 within the same narrative. K&D, Poole, Benson and JFB independently read it as the ordinary Hebrew hyperbole of totality.
√ bâtsar — to gather grapesArticleAdjectivefeminine plural
bâtsar: to make inaccessible, fortify Cambridge explains the strategy the word implies: the fortified cities “were subjugated first, that there might be no chance of help from them if it became necessary to assault the capital.” Every place of refuge is taken before the capital is approached, so that Jerusalem stands with nothing between it and Asshur except the LORD.
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct
√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhûwdâh: Judah The southern kingdom, whose sister kingdom was deported six or eight chapters' worth of judgment earlier. Benson and Henry both read this invasion as God trying the faith of Hezekiah and chastising a people who had not joined his reformation with their hearts.