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2 Kings19:1–7

Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance

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2 Kings 19:1–7 — Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî kiš·mō·a‘ ham·me·leḵ ḥiz·qî·yā·hū way·yiq·ra‘ ’eṯ- bə·ḡā·ḏāw way·yiṯ·kas baś·śāq way·yā·ḇō bêṯ Yah·weh

Word by word12 · parsed
וַיְהִ֗יway·hîOnH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
כִּשְׁמֹ֙עַ֙kiš·mō·a‘hearing [this report]H8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcPreposition-kVerbQalInfinitive construct
shâmaʻ: to hear intelligently, with attention and obedience The unit's hinge verb, and it runs the whole way through: Hezekiah hears (v. 1), he hopes YHWH will hear the Rabshakeh (v. 4) and has heard (v. 4), Isaiah names the words Hezekiah has heard (v. 6), and Sennacherib will hear a report (v. 7). The whole crisis is a contest over whose hearing decides the outcome.
הַמֶּ֣לֶךְham·me·leḵKingH4428
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
חִזְקִיָּ֔הוּḥiz·qî·yā·hūHezekiahH2396
√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּקְרַ֖עway·yiq·ra‘toreH7167
√ qâraʻ — to rend, literally or figuratively (revile, paint the eyes, as if enlarging them)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qâraʻ: to rend, to tear The consecutive imperfect makes it the first thing the king does, before prayer and before the embassy. Benson reads it as the customary act of a good man at blasphemy against the Name; JFB calls it a mode of expressing horror. The same root with the same object (beged, garments) was used of Eliakim, Shebna and Joah in 2 Kings 18:37, so the king is doing what his officers did, and the narrative joins their two torn-cloth scenes with one verb.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
בְּגָדָ֑יוbə·ḡā·ḏāwhis clothesH899
√ beged — a covering, iNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
וַיִּתְכַּ֣סway·yiṯ·kasput onH3680
√ kâçâh — properly, to plump, iConjunctive wawVerbHitpaelConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
kâçâh: to cover, to conceal (Hitpael, reflexive) Barnes reads the sackcloth as self-humiliation and grief together, and adds the honest note that Hezekiah's faith was not lost but "being severely tried." The Hitpael matters theologically: nothing is done to the king, he does it to himself. Covering in sackcloth is the visible reversal of royal covering.
בַּשָּׂ֔קbaś·śāqsackclothH8242
√ saq — properly, a mesh (as allowing a liquid to run through), iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
saq: a mesh, a coarse sack; hence sackcloth The Pulpit Commentary lists the standing biblical chain of this sign (Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 6:30). Isaiah himself had once been commanded to loose the sackcloth from his loins as a sign against trust in Egypt and Cush (Isaiah 20:2, which the Verifier flags for the shared lexeme). Now the court puts it on and comes to that same prophet.
וַיָּבֹ֖אway·yā·ḇōand enteredH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
בֵּ֥יתbêṯthe houseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
bayith: a house, in the widest range of application The same noun that in v. 2 names Eliakim's charge, the house (the palace). Within two verses bayith means both the administered palace and the temple: the man over one house is sent out while the king goes into the other. Ellicott, Gill, Cambridge and the Pulpit all agree on the purpose of the entry, to humble himself and pray.
יְהוָֽה׃Yah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhôvâh: the personal covenant name of God The verse ends on the Name. Every other proper noun in the unit (Hezekiah, Eliakim, Shebna, Isaiah, Amoz, Assyria) is a name under threat or a name making the threat; this one is the name that has been blasphemed, and the last word of the verse is where the king takes it.
2

And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yiš·laḥ ’eṯ- ’el·yā·qîm ’ă·šer- hab·ba·yiṯ ‘al- wə·šeḇ·nā has·sō·p̄êr wə·’êṯ ziq·nê hak·kō·hă·nîm miṯ·kas·sîm baś·śaq·qîm ’el- han·nā·ḇî yə·ša‘·yā·hū ben- ’ā·mō·wṣ

Word by word18 · parsed
וַ֠יִּשְׁלַחway·yiš·laḥAnd he sentH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
shâlach: to send away, for, or out The unit's second controlling verb, and it is used against itself. Hezekiah sends to the prophet (v. 2); Sennacherib had sent the Rabshakeh to defy the living God (v. 4, same root, šə·lā·ḥōw). Two kings, two embassies, two errands: one to blaspheme, one to beg intercession. The narrative sets them side by side without comment.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
אֶלְיָקִ֨ים’el·yā·qîmEliakimH471
√ ʼElyâqîym — Eljakim, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
הַבַּ֜יִתhab·ba·yiṯthe palaceH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcArticleNounmasculine singular
bayith: house, household Eliakim is ʼăsher ʻal hab·ba·yiṯ, "who is over the house," the standing title of the royal steward (compare Isaiah 22:20 to 22, where the office is given to this same Eliakim). The interlinear splits the title across indices 3 to 5; it is one office, not three words. The man over the king's house is sent while the king is in the LORD's house.
עַל־‘al-administratorH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
וְשֶׁבְנָ֣אwə·šeḇ·nāShebnaH7644
√ Shebnâʼ — Shebna or Shebnah, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הַסֹּפֵ֗רhas·sō·p̄êrthe scribeH5608
√ çâphar — properly, to score with a mark as a tally or record, iArticleNounmasculine singular
וְאֵת֙wə·’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
זִקְנֵ֣יziq·nêand the leadingH2205
√ zâqên — oldAdjectivemasculine plural construct
zâqên: old, an elder Priests are sent to a prophet. That is the notable thing, and the Pulpit Commentary says it plainly: at this period the prophetic order stood higher than the priestly in general estimation. The institution that handles sacrifice comes, in sackcloth, to the man who handles the word.
הַכֹּֽהֲנִ֔יםhak·kō·hă·nîmpriestsH3548
√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural
מִתְכַּסִּ֖יםmiṯ·kas·sîmall wearingH3680
√ kâçâh — properly, to plump, iVerbHitpaelParticiplemasculine plural
kâçâh: to cover (Hitpael participle) The participle holds the action open: they are covering themselves the whole way to Isaiah's door. Grammatically it modifies the priests and the two officers together, so the mourning garb is the embassy's credential.
בַּשַּׂקִּ֑יםbaś·śaq·qîmsackclothH8242
√ saq — properly, a mesh (as allowing a liquid to run through), iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
הַנָּבִ֖יאhan·nā·ḇîthe prophetH5030
√ nâbîyʼ — a prophet or (generally) inspired manArticleNounmasculine singular
nâbîyʼ: a prophet, an inspired spokesman Barnes notes that this is the first time Isaiah enters the narrative of Kings, though his own book shows him active through four reigns. Cambridge says the same and draws the conclusion: the historian has withheld the name until the darkest day, and "it is to Isaiah he sends as the source of true light." The literary effect is deliberate.
יְשַֽׁעְיָ֥הוּyə·ša‘·yā·hūIsaiahH3470
√ Yᵉshaʻyâh — Jeshajah, the name of seven IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉshaʻyâh: Isaiah, "YHWH saves" The name itself answers the message the envoys carry. Hezekiah's complaint in v. 3 is that there is no kôach, no strength, to deliver; the man they are sent to is named for the LORD's saving. The text does not comment on this; the names simply stand next to each other.
בֶּן־ben-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
אָמֽוֹץ׃’ā·mō·wṣof AmozH531
√ ʼÂmôwts — Amots, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
ʼÂmôwts: Amoz The Pulpit Commentary is careful here: nothing is known of Amoz beyond his being Isaiah's father, and he is not to be confused with the prophet Amos, whose name is spelled differently in Hebrew (עָמוס, not אמוץ). This is a small but real guard against a common conflation.
3

to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yō·mə·rū ’ê·lāw kōh ḥiz·qî·yā·hū ’ā·mar yō·wm- haz·zeh hay·yō·wm ṣā·rāh wə·ṯō·w·ḵê·ḥāh ū·nə·’ā·ṣāh kî ḇā·nîm ḇā·’ū ‘aḏ- maš·bêr ’a·yin wə·ḵō·aḥ lə·lê·ḏāh

Word by word19 · parsed
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּway·yō·mə·rūto tellH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
אֵלָ֗יו’ê·lāwhimH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionthird person masculine singular
כֹּ֚הkōhThis is whatH3541
√ kôh — properly, like this, iAdverb
חִזְקִיָּ֔הוּḥiz·qî·yā·hūHezekiahH2396
√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אָמַ֣ר’ā·marsaysH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
יוֹם־yō·wm-TodayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine singular construct
הַזֶּ֑הhaz·zeh. . .H2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
הַיּ֣וֹםhay·yō·wmis a dayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine singular
צָרָ֧הṣā·rāhof distressH6869
√ tsârâh — tightness (iNounfeminine singular
tsârâh: tightness, straits, distress The root idea is narrowness, being pressed in. The Verifier finds this lexeme shared with the parallel report at Isaiah 37:3, where the same three nouns stand in the same order. Cambridge unfolds the triad in sequence: first the anguish of the siege, then the sense that the trouble is chastisement for their own wrong, then the mockery of enemies allowed to insult their confidence.
וְתוֹכֵחָ֛הwə·ṯō·w·ḵê·ḥāhrebukeH8433
√ tôwkêchâh — chastisementConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular
tôwkêchâh: chastisement, rebuke Ellicott and Barnes both correct the older English "rebuke" to "chastisement" and note that the cognate verb appears in the very next verse (wᵉhôkîaḥ, v. 4). That is the sharpest thing in the whole message: the chastisement Judah is under and the chastisement they ask God to lay on Assyria are named by the same root. Hezekiah asks God to turn the verb around.
וּנְאָצָ֖הū·nə·’ā·ṣāhand disgraceH5007
√ nᵉʼâtsâh — scornConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular
nᵉʼâtsâh: contempt, scorn, provocation A rare noun, found in only five verses (the Verifier's count): here, Nehemiah 9:18 and 9:26, Ezekiel 35:12, and the parallel in Isaiah 37:3. Every other occurrence concerns contempt shown toward God or toward His people's God. The rarity is the point: Hezekiah reaches for a word Israel almost never uses.
כִּ֣יkîforH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
בָנִים֙ḇā·nîmchildrenH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural
bên: a son, a child (as the builder of the family name) The plural bānîm, and the figure is corporate: the nation is the mother, and what cannot be born is the nation's own future. Strong's root sense, a son as the builder of the family name, gives the image its weight in a book that measures every reign by whether a line continues. The same noun stands two verses earlier in ben ʼĀmôwts, Isaiah son of Amoz, the man the envoys are walking toward: one bên is safely born and carries the word of the LORD, while the other is stuck at the breach. Geneva's margin makes the application explicit, that the dangers are so great they can neither avenge the blasphemy nor help themselves.
בָ֤אוּḇā·’ūhave comeH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
עַד־‘aḏ-to the point ofH5704
√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition
מַשְׁבֵּ֔רmaš·bêrbirthH4866
√ mishbêr — the orifice of the womb (from which the fetus breaks forth)Nounmasculine singular
mishbêr: the mouth of the womb, the place of breaking forth The unit's rarest word, and the one that carries its theology. K&D spell out the medical force: if the woman in travail cannot bring forth the child that has reached the mouth of the womb, both mother and child are in the gravest danger. Both K&D and Ellicott point to Hosea 13:13, the only other place where this proverbial picture is used of a nation, and the Verifier confirms the shared lexeme.
אַ֖יִן’a·yinbut there is noH369
√ ʼayin — a non-entityAdverb
וְכֹ֥חַwə·ḵō·aḥstrengthH3581
√ kôach — vigor, literally (force, in a good or a bad sense) or figuratively (capacity, means, produce)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular
kôach: vigor, force, capacity, means The word for strength in the largest sense, physical force and available resource together. Its absence here is the exact counterpart to the Assyrian boast of 18:33 to 35, which was entirely a boast of kôach. Barnes paraphrases the whole clause: we are at the last gasp and lack the strength that might carry us through.
לְלֵדָֽה׃lə·lê·ḏāhto deliver themH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person feminine singular
yâlad: to bear young, to bring forth A Qal infinitive construct with the preposition l, and the feminine form lêdāh rather than the expected lēdeṯ. K&D flag the irregularity and refer it to Gesenius 69, 2 Anm. It is a grammatical oddity, not a textual doubt.
4

Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ū·lay Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’êṯ yiš·ma‘ kāl- diḇ·rê raḇ- šā·qêh ’ă·šer ’ă·ḏō·nāw me·leḵ- ’aš·šūr šə·lā·ḥōw lə·ḥā·rêp̄ ḥay ’ĕ·lō·hîm wə·hō·w·ḵî·aḥ bad·də·ḇā·rîm ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā šā·ma‘ wə·nā·śā·ṯā ṯə·p̄il·lāh bə·‘aḏ haš·šə·’ê·rîṯ han·nim·ṣā·’āh

Word by word28 · parsed
אוּלַ֡י’ū·layPerhapsH194
√ ʼûwlay — if notAdverb
ʼûwlay: perhaps, if so be The whole prayer of this unit stands on this one adverb. Ellicott records the old commentator Clericus: Non est dubitantis sed sperantis, it belongs to one hoping, not to one doubting. Cambridge grounds the same reading in usage, Numbers 23:3 and Joshua 14:12. Poole, more soberly, keeps the doubt genuine. Both readings are defensible from the lexicon, and the text does not settle it.
יְהוָ֨הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular
אֵ֣ת׀’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
יִשְׁמַע֩yiš·ma‘will hearH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
דִּבְרֵ֣יdiḇ·rêthe wordsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
רַב־raḇ-vvvH7262
√ Rabshâqêh — Rabshakeh, a Babylonian officialNounmasculine singular
שָׁקֵ֗הšā·qêhof the RabshakehH7262
√ Rabshâqêh — Rabshakeh, a Babylonian officialNounmasculine singular
אֲשֶׁר֩’ă·šerwhomH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אֲדֹנָיו֙’ă·ḏō·nāwhis masterH113
√ ʼâdôwn — sovereign, iNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
מֶֽלֶךְ־me·leḵ-the kingH4428
√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct
אַשּׁ֤וּר׀’aš·šūrof AssyriaH804
√ ʼAshshûwr — Ashshur, the second son of ShemNounproperfeminine singular
שְׁלָח֨וֹšə·lā·ḥōwhas sentH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular
shâlach: to send The identical root as v. 2. The Rabshakeh is a sent one just as Eliakim and Shebna are. The verse is structured so that the Assyrian embassy of blasphemy and the Judean embassy of prayer meet in one sentence, each described by the same verb.
לְחָרֵף֙lə·ḥā·rêp̄to defyH2778
√ châraph — to pull off, iPreposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct
châraph (Piel): to taunt, reproach, defy The intensive stem makes the reproach deliberate and sustained, not a slip. This is the same charge and nearly the same situation as 1 Samuel 17:26, where David asks who this uncircumcised Philistine is that he should reproach the armies of the living God; Barnes, JFB, K&D and the Pulpit Commentary all send the reader to that verse. The Rabshakeh has made himself Goliath.
חַ֔יḥaythe livingH2416
√ chay — aliveAdjectivemasculine singular
chay: alive, living A single adjective, and it is the theological pivot of the message. JFB: the expression is most significant taken with the senseless deities the Rabshakeh had boasted were unable to resist his master. K&D put it as a contrast to heathen gods who are only lifeless idols. The Rabshakeh's argument in chapter 18 was a syllogism about gods that failed; the one premise it lacked was that this God is alive.
אֱלֹהִ֣ים’ĕ·lō·hîmGodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
וְהוֹכִ֙יחַ֙wə·hō·w·ḵî·aḥand He will rebuke himH3198
√ yâkach — to be right (iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular
yâkach (Hifil): to decide, adjudge, chastise, reprove A conjunctive perfect continuing yishmaʻ: and he will chastise. K&D argue against taking it with lᵉḥārêp̄ as a second infinitive (Luther, Gesenius) and read it as a progressive perfect, so the sense is "He will hear and He will punish for the words He has heard." Barnes, Poole and Cambridge all note the ellipsis of the object: not reprove the words, but reprove him for the words. The root is cognate with tôwkêchâh in v. 3.
בַּדְּבָרִ֔יםbad·də·ḇā·rîmfor the wordsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
יְהוָ֣הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular
שָׁמַ֖עšā·ma‘has heardH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
shâmaʻ: to hear Barnes gives the idiom exactly: "will hear" here means will show that He has heard, will notice and punish. K&D say the same, hear equivalent to observe, take notice of, and in this case punish. Hebrew hearing, when God is the subject and an insult is the object, is judicial, not auditory.
וְנָשָׂ֣אתָwə·nā·śā·ṯāTherefore lift upH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular
nâsâʼ: to lift, in the widest range of application A conjunctive perfect, second person masculine singular, functioning as the request: and thou shalt lift up a prayer. Ellicott suggests two senses, lifting heavenward (2 Chronicles 32:20) or the idiom "lift up the voice" (Genesis 27:38), so "utter." K&D read it as lifting to heaven. Note also that Hebrew has no article: a prayer, not "thy prayer."
תְפִלָּ֔הṯə·p̄il·lāha prayerH8605
√ tᵉphillâh — intercession, supplicationNounfeminine singular
בְּעַ֥דbə·‘aḏforH1157
√ bᵉʻad — in up to or over againstPreposition
הַשְּׁאֵרִ֖יתhaš·šə·’ê·rîṯthe remnantH7611
√ shᵉʼêrîyth — a remainder or residual (surviving, final) portionArticleNounfeminine singular
shᵉʼêrîyth: a remainder, a residual surviving portion Not a sentimental word. Barnes fixes the referent historically: Judah is the only remnant of God's people left after Galilee, Gilead and Samaria were carried away. The Pulpit Commentary adds Sennacherib's own figure from the Eponym Canon, forty six Judean cities taken and 200,150 persons deported. Geneva's margin narrows it further, to Jerusalem alone, which only remained of all the cities of Judah. The remnant Hezekiah asks prayer for is a city, not a nation.
הַנִּמְצָאָֽה׃han·nim·ṣā·’āhthat still survivesH4672
√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iArticleVerbNifalParticiplefeminine singular
5

So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

‘aḇ·ḏê ham·me·leḵ ḥiz·qî·yā·hū way·yā·ḇō·’ū ’el- yə·ša·‘a·yā·hū

Word by word6 · parsed
עַבְדֵ֛י‘aḇ·ḏêSo the servantsH5650
√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine plural construct
ʻebed: a servant, a royal officer Placed first in the clause, before the verb, which is unusual and throws weight on who came. The word is honorable; these are the household steward, the scribe and the senior priests of v. 2. One verse later Isaiah will name Sennacherib's officials with a very different noun.
הַמֶּ֥לֶךְham·me·leḵof KingH4428
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
חִזְקִיָּ֖הוּḥiz·qî·yā·hūHezekiahH2396
√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וַיָּבֹ֗אוּway·yā·ḇō·’ūwentH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
bôwʼ: to come, to enter Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural. The verb that has already carried the king into the temple and the child to the point of birth now carries the embassy to the prophet's door. Nothing has yet been said in reply; the unit pauses on arrival.
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
יְשַֽׁעַיָֽהוּ׃yə·ša·‘a·yā·hūIsaiahH3470
√ Yᵉshaʻyâh — Jeshajah, the name of seven IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉshaʻyâh: Isaiah Spelled here yə·ša·ʻa·yā·hū, slightly differing in vocalization from v. 2. The verse exists to put the name at the end of the sentence, which is where the answer will come from in v. 6.
6

who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yə·ša‘·yā·hū way·yō·mer lā·hem ṯō·mə·rūn ’el- ’ă·ḏō·nê·ḵem kōh kōh Yah·weh ’ā·mar ’al- tî·rā mip·pə·nê had·də·ḇā·rîm ’ă·šer šā·ma‘·tā ’ă·šer na·‘ă·rê me·leḵ- ’aš·šūr gid·də·p̄ū ’ō·ṯî

Word by word22 · parsed
יְשַֽׁעְיָ֔הוּyə·ša‘·yā·hūwhoH3470
√ Yᵉshaʻyâh — Jeshajah, the name of seven IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·merrepliedH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
לָהֶם֙lā·hem
Prepositionthird person masculine plural
תֹאמְר֖וּןṯō·mə·rūnTellH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine pluralParagogic nun
אֶל־’el-. . .H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
אֲדֹֽנֵיכֶ֑ם’ă·ḏō·nê·ḵemyour masterH113
√ ʼâdôwn — sovereign, iNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine plural
כֹּ֣ה׀kōh. . .H3541
√ kôh — properly, like this, iAdverb
כֹּ֥הkōhthat this is whatH3541
√ kôh — properly, like this, iAdverb
kôh: thus, in this manner The formula kōh ʼāmar YHWH, which Hezekiah had borrowed in v. 3 to introduce his own words to Isaiah, now comes back in its proper place. Isaiah returns the king's idiom to him with the Name in it. That formal reversal is the answer before any content arrives.
יְהוָ֗הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
אָמַ֣ר’ā·marsaysH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
אַל־’al-Do notH408
√ ʼal — not (the qualified negation, used as a deprecative)Adverb
תִּירָא֙tî·rābe afraidH3372
√ yârêʼ — to fearVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
yârêʼ: to fear Qal imperfect, second person masculine singular: the prohibition is addressed to Hezekiah personally, not to the envoys who are standing there. JFB call the prophet's answer most cheering, holding out the prospect of speedy deliverance. Note what is not said: nothing yet about the army, the city, or the walls, only about the king's fear of some words.
מִפְּנֵ֤יmip·pə·nêofH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-mNouncommon plural construct
הַדְּבָרִים֙had·də·ḇā·rîmthe wordsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordArticleNounmasculine plural
dâbâr: a word, a matter Cambridge presses the deflation: God's prophet sets down the threats and insults of the Rabshakeh as words and no more. The noun has already appeared twice in v. 4 for the same speech. The whole Assyrian siege has been reduced, in the LORD's own formula, to a category of speech.
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
שָׁמַ֗עְתָּšā·ma‘·tāyou have heardH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֧ר’ă·šerwith whichH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
נַעֲרֵ֥יna·‘ă·rêthe servantsH5288
√ naʻar — (concretely) a boy (as active), from the age of infancy to adolescenceNounmasculine plural construct
naʻar: a boy, a lad; hence an attendant The single most pointed word in the reply. Judah's messengers are ʻaḇādîm (v. 5); Assyria's high officer and his colleagues are nᵉʻārîm, boys. Cambridge notes that the point is not their actual age but the estimate placed on their boasting. Heaven's first move against the empire is a change of noun.
מֶֽלֶךְ־me·leḵ-of the kingH4428
√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct
אַשּׁ֖וּר’aš·šūrof AssyriaH804
√ ʼAshshûwr — Ashshur, the second son of ShemNounproperfeminine singular
גִּדְּפ֛וּgid·də·p̄ūhave blasphemedH1442
√ gâdaph — to hack (with words), iVerbPielPerfectthird person common plural
gâdaph (Piel): to revile, to hack with words Ellicott cross-references Psalm 44:16, Isaiah 51:7 and Numbers 15:30, where the root covers reproach and the sin committed with a high hand. The Piel intensifies. The root image, hacking, keeps the violence in the verb: this is not disagreement but assault carried out in speech.
אֹתִֽי׃’ō·ṯîMeH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerfirst person common singular
ʼêth (with first person suffix): the object marker, here "me" The last word of the verse, and it changes the defendant. Hezekiah had said the Rabshakeh came to reproach the living God (v. 4, third person, tentative). The LORD answers in the first person: they have reviled Me. What Hezekiah hoped might be taken as an offense against God is confirmed as one.
7

Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hin·nî nō·ṯên rū·aḥ bōw wə·šā·ma‘ šə·mū·‘āh wə·šāḇ lə·’ar·ṣōw bə·’ar·ṣōw wə·hip·pal·tîw ba·ḥe·reḇ

Word by word11 · parsed
הִנְנִ֨יhin·nîBeholdH2005
√ hên — lo!Interjectionfirst person common singular
נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênI will putH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
nâthan: to give, in the widest range of application The participle after hinnî is the classic prophetic announcement of an act begun. What is striking is the verb chosen: the LORD does not say He will send, strike or drive, but give. The spirit of panic that empties the Assyrian camp is described as a gift placed in a king.
ר֔וּחַrū·aḥa spiritH7307
√ rûwach — windNouncommon singular
rûwach: wind, breath, spirit The unit's most contested word, and the honest position is that the ancient and modern readings split. Cambridge adduces 1 Samuel 16:14, the troubling spirit sent upon Saul, as the controlling parallel and rejects the "blast" reading as finding no illustration elsewhere. Poole goes the other way and argues the rûach here is the same agent called an angel in 19:35. Ellicott, following Cheyne, doubts whether Hebrew thought distinguished the personal and impersonal senses at all. We do not decide it.
בּוֹ֙bōwin him
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
וְשָׁמַ֥עwə·šā·ma‘so that he will hearH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular
shâmaʻ: to hear The unit's governing verb reaches its last and decisive use, and it lands on Sennacherib. Hezekiah heard (v. 1) and tore his clothes; the LORD has heard (v. 4) and will chastise; now the Assyrian will hear, and turn for home. The chapter that opened with a man hearing ends its oracle with an empire hearing.
שְׁמוּעָ֖הšə·mū·‘āha rumorH8052
√ shᵉmûwʻâh — something heard, iNounfeminine singular
shᵉmûwʻâh: something heard, a report, a rumor Built from the same root as the verb before it: he shall hear a hearing. The Pulpit Commentary renders it literally, "he shall hear a hearsay." The commentators divide on the referent. K&D and Cambridge identify it with the report of Tirhakah in v. 9 and argue at length that it cannot be the destruction of the army, since Sennacherib was with the army; the Pulpit Commentary answers that he would still have learned of it from someone entering his tent. The text names no referent.
וְשָׁ֣בwə·šāḇand returnH7725
√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular
shûwb: to turn back, to return Fulfilled at 19:36. The verb does not require reaching a starting point, only turning away; Strong's is explicit on that. The empire that came to take a city is described as simply turning.
לְאַרְצ֑וֹlə·’ar·ṣōwto his own landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-lNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
בְּאַרְצֽוֹ׃bə·’ar·ṣōwwhereH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
וְהִפַּלְתִּ֥יוwə·hip·pal·tîwI will cause him to fallH5307
√ nâphal — to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectfirst person common singularthird person masculine singular
nâphal (Hifil): to cause to fall The causative first person is the theological weight of the verse. JFB note that the three clauses here, the alarm, the report, and the fall by the sword, were a brief prediction fulfilled in all three particulars, and the narrative reports the last of them at 19:37, in Nineveh, at the hands of his sons. The oracle given to a king with no strength to deliver ends with God supplying every verb.
בַּחֶ֖רֶבba·ḥe·reḇby the swordH2719
√ chereb — droughtPreposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular
chereb: a sword (Strong's root sense: drought, that which lays waste) With the article: the sword. The Assyrian empire, the sword of the ancient world, will be ended by a sword, in its own land, in its own house. Nothing in the oracle requires Judah to lift one.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The torn robe and the two houses — vv. 1 to 2

The unit opens on an infinitive, not an event: כִּשְׁמֹעַ, at the hearing. Everything that follows hangs on a king receiving words. He tears (qâraʻ, the same root and the same object as his officers at 18:37), he covers himself (kâçâh, Hitpael, reflexive), and he comes into the house of the LORD. Benson reads the tearing as what good men were accustomed to do when they heard reproach cast on God's Name, and adds that great men must not think it beneath them to sympathize with the injured honour of the great God. Gill separates the two gestures by cause: the tearing answers the blasphemy, the sackcloth answers the calamity he feared was coming. Barnes is franker than either, and worth keeping for his frankness: Hezekiah was dispirited and dejected, perhaps beginning to doubt whether he had done right, and "his faith was being severely tried." K&D let Theodoret say the thing most exactly, that the king did not meet the blasphemies with weapons but with prayer and tears and sackcloth.

⚙ The two occurrences of bayith in vv. 1 and 2 are worth holding together, since the English hides them. Eliakim is the man over the house, the palace; Hezekiah goes into the house of the LORD. The administrator of one house is sent out of it at the moment the king enters the other. The Pulpit Commentary observes, with some understatement, that at this period the prophetic order stood higher than the priestly in general estimation, and not unworthily; the detail that carries it is that the elders of the priests go, in sackcloth, to a prophet. Ellicott notes Knobel's point that so distinguished an embassy speaks for the high estimation in which Isaiah stood. Cambridge draws the literary consequence, that the historian of Kings has never once named Isaiah until now, and "it is to Isaiah he sends as the source of true light."

ii. The child at the mouth of the womb — v. 3

Hezekiah's message to the prophet comes in the prophet's own formula, kōh ʼāmar, thus says. Then three nouns: צָרָה (straits), תּוֹכֵחָה (chastisement), נְאָצָה (contempt). Cambridge unfolds them in order: first the anguish of being hemmed in, then the recognition that the trouble is chastisement for their own wrong, then the mockery of enemies allowed to deride their confidence. Ellicott and Barnes both insist that "rebuke" should be "chastisement," and Ellicott adds the crucial observation that the cognate verb turns up in the very next verse. K&D and the Pulpit Commentary read the third noun as God's rejection of His people, not the Assyrian's blasphemy against God; Ellicott, pointing to Nehemiah 9:18 and 9:26, reads it the other way. The sources do not agree, and we do not pretend they do.

Then the figure. מַשְׁבֵּר (maš·bêr) is not "birth"; Strong's defines it as the orifice of the womb from which the fetus breaks forth, and it occurs in only three verses in the Hebrew Bible. K&D give the clinical force: if the woman in travail has not strength to bring forth the child that has come to the mouth of the womb, both lives are in the gravest danger. Geneva's margin applies it, that the dangers are so great they can neither avenge this blasphemy nor help themselves any more than a woman in labour. Poole, followed almost word for word by Benson, identifies the unborn child with Hezekiah's reformation and his revolt from Assyria: "We have begun a happy reformation, and are hindered by this insolent Assyrian from bringing it to perfection." ⚙ That identification is Poole's reading of the figure, not part of it; the Hebrew names no referent for the children. Cambridge stays closer to the text: the figure indicates they were in the extremest danger and had no power to save themselves. The word the Hebrew uses for that power is kôach, which is the same commodity the Rabshakeh had spent all of chapter 18 boasting about.

iii. Perhaps: a prayer staked on the honour of the living God — vv. 4 to 5

The request rests on one adverb, אוּלַי. Ellicott preserves the old commentator Clericus on it, Non est dubitantis sed sperantis, it is not the word of one doubting but of one hoping. Cambridge grounds the same reading in usage, Balaam's "peradventure" at Numbers 23:3 and Caleb's "if so be" at Joshua 14:12, and concludes that Hezekiah is sending to the only source of hope. Poole keeps the doubt real: he speaks doubtfully because he did not know whether God would not deliver them up, as he and his people deserved. ⚙ Both are honest readings of the lexicon and we let them stand together, because the whole unit balances on this word.

Two details in the Hebrew do work the English cannot. First, the pronoun: thy God, twice, addressed to Isaiah. Benson, Poole and the Pulpit Commentary all notice that Hezekiah does not say our God, and read it as a man unwilling to presume on a relation his people's sins have strained. Second, the argument. Cambridge states it precisely: the ground on which Hezekiah pleads is not that he and his people deserve mercy, but that in what they suffer God's name and honour are blasphemed. The prayer is not "we are worth saving." It is "You have been reproached." And the object of that reproach is named with a single adjective, חַי: the living God. JFB call it a most significant expression taken in connection with the senseless deities the Rabshakeh boasted were unable to resist his master's arms; K&D set it against heathen gods who are only lifeless idols; Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary send the reader to 1 Samuel 17:26, where David asks who this Philistine is that he should reproach the armies of the living God. The Rabshakeh's speech in chapter 18 was a careful argument from precedent about gods that had failed. It had one unexamined premise.

The thing asked for is intercession. Henry's line on the whole passage is the one worth carrying: those who speak from God to us, we should in a particular manner desire to speak to God for us. And the thing asked for it is the remnant that is found, a Nifal participle, not "that survives." Barnes locates it historically, Judah being the only remnant left after Galilee, Gilead and Samaria were carried away; the Pulpit Commentary cites Sennacherib's own Eponym Canon, forty six Judean cities taken and 200,150 persons deported; Geneva narrows it to Jerusalem, which only remained of all the cities of Judah. Then v. 5 does nothing at all but say the men arrived. Ellicott calls it simple and artless; the Pulpit Commentary calls it superfluous by modern notions. ⚙ It is neither. It closes the frame and forces the pause before the only reply in the unit that is not a man's.

iv. Do not fear: the lads, the spirit, the report, the sword — vv. 6 to 7

Isaiah answers in the formula Hezekiah had borrowed, kōh ʼāmar YHWH, and the first move is a change of noun. Hezekiah's men were עַבְדֵי, royal officers (v. 5). Assyria's officials are נַעֲרֵי, lads. The Pulpit Commentary translates "foot-boys" or "lackeys"; Ellicott records Delitzsch's "squires"; K&D call it a derogatory epithet applied to the officials of Assyria; Cambridge notes the LXX's παιδάρια and reads the whole phrase as estimating their boasts as young men's words, adding that God's prophet sets down the threats and insults of the Rabshakeh as words and no more. ⚙ Heaven's opening move against the empire is not a weapon. It is a demotion in vocabulary. And the last word of v. 6 moves the charge from third person to first: Hezekiah hoped the Rabshakeh had reproached the living God; the LORD says they have reviled Me.

Verse 7 is the promise, and its first word is רוּחַ, on which the sources genuinely split. Cambridge is blunt that "blast" is often wrongly accepted as referring to the destroying angel of v. 35, adduces the troubling spirit sent on Saul at 1 Samuel 16:14, and says the R.V. has it right: put a spirit in him. Barnes gives the same reading its sharpest form, that God will take from Sennacherib his present pride and put in him a new spirit, a spirit of craven fear. Benson and Poole hold the older line, that the word is wind, storm or tempest, a name often given to God's judgments, and Poole argues at some length that the rûach here is the same agent called an angel in v. 35. The Pulpit Commentary, having surveyed both, concludes that the prophecy was no doubt intentionally vague, enough for its purpose, which was to comfort Hezekiah, and not intended to gratify curiosity about the method. Ellicott, citing Cheyne, doubts whether Hebrew thought separated the personal and impersonal senses at all. ⚙ We leave it open. What is not open is the grammar of the last clause: wᵉhippaltîw is Hifil, causative, first person. Cambridge draws the conclusion for the fulfilment at 19:37: the two sons are the instruments, but they, though they know it not, are only working out God's design. JFB count the three particulars, the alarm that hastened the retreat, the destruction that overtook the army, the violent death that suddenly ended his career, and note that all three were fulfilled.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. The unit is built on one verb, shâmaʻ, to hear, and it moves through four hearers. Hezekiah hears and tears his clothes. The LORD, Hezekiah hopes, will hear, and hearing in that mouth means judging. Hezekiah has heard the words, and is told not to fear them. Sennacherib will hear a report, and go home to die. The whole crisis is conducted in speech, and settled in speech: the empire's siege is reduced by the oracle to dᵉbārîm, words, spoken by nᵉʻārîm, lads.

But the center of the unit is v. 3, and it says something harder than the comfort in v. 7. Hezekiah does not say we are weak. He says ʼayin, there is no strength, using the particle of sheer non-existence, and he says it of the exact moment when strength is most needed and least available: the child at the mouth of the womb, past the point of retreat and short of the point of deliverance. Poole and Benson identify the child with the reformation. ⚙ Our reading is that the figure is deliberately unassigned, because what the king is naming is not a project but a position: the place where a work has gone too far to abandon and no further under its own power. Judah had walls, a water tunnel (2 Chronicles 32:30), a purged temple and a reforming king. None of it could push. That is what the sackcloth means.

And notice what the prayer does with that. It does not offer the remnant's merit, and Cambridge is right that it does not even try: the plea is that God's name and honour are blasphemed. Hezekiah's one asset is that his enemy has insulted his God. ⚙ We take this to be the unit's actual theology of prayer, and it is not a comfortable one, because it means the ground of hope is located entirely outside the one praying. The king who has no kôach appeals to the God who is chay, living, and asks only that the living God be seen to be alive. What comes back is the whole deliverance, given in verbs with God as subject: I am giving, I will cause him to fall.

The following line is our own summary sentence, not Scripture and not any commentator: Hezekiah could not deliver the child; he could only carry the day of distress into the house of the LORD, and leave the LORD to be both the strength and the midwife.

Hezekiah could not deliver the child; he could only carry the day of distress into the house of the LORD, and leave the LORD to be both the strength and the midwife.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The child that comes to the breach and cannot be born verbal / quotation: confirmed

The rarest word in the unit is מַשְׁבֵּר (mishbêr, H4866), the mouth of the womb, the place of breaking forth. The Verifier finds it in only three verses of the Hebrew Bible, and Hosea 13:13 is one of them: there Ephraim is the son who does not present himself at the mishbêr when the time comes. Both Ellicott and K&D independently send the reader to Hosea on this verse, Ellicott calling it "the similar language of Hosea" and K&D "the similar figure." ⚙ The two uses are pointed in opposite directions and that is what makes the pair worth keeping: in Hosea the child will not come out and the fault is the child's; in Hezekiah's mouth the child has come and the mother has no strength. Judah is not accused of refusing the birth. She is confessing she cannot finish it.

Hosea 13:13

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H4866 mishbêr, which occurs in only 3 verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. A genuinely rare verbal link. It is shared proverbial idiom, not a citation of Hosea by Kings, and the two contexts use the figure to opposite ends; Ellicott and K&D both name Hosea 13:13 as the parallel.

Contempt: a word Israel almost never uses verbal / quotation: confirmed

נְאָצָה (nᵉʼâtsâh, H5007) appears in five verses, and the Verifier surfaces three of them: Nehemiah 9:18 and 9:26, where it names the provocations Israel offered God at the calf and against the prophets, and Ezekiel 35:12, where the LORD says He has heard the contempt Edom spoke against the mountains of Israel. Ellicott points to the Nehemiah passages; the Ezekiel occurrence stands even closer to 2 Kings 19, since there too the verb is that God has heard what an enemy said about His land, exactly Hezekiah's hope in v. 4. ⚙ The disagreement in the sources about the direction of the contempt here (K&D and the Pulpit Commentary read God's rejection of His people; Ellicott reads provocation offered to God) is not resolved by the parallels, since the lexeme runs both ways in its other occurrences.

Nehemiah 9:18 · Nehemiah 9:26 · Ezekiel 35:12

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H5007 nᵉʼâtsâh (in 5 vv), a rare noun. Verbal link by shared rare lexeme only; there is no quotation in either direction. Nehemiah 9:18/9:26 are cited by Ellicott; Ezekiel 35:12 is the Verifier's own candidate.

The doubled chapter: Kings and Isaiah 36 to 37 verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier returns Isaiah 37:1 to 7 across the whole unit (37:2 sharing H3680 kâçâh, H8242 saq, H5608 çâphar; 37:3 sharing H2396, H6869 tsârâh, H3581 kôach; 37:6 sharing H3470, H804, H113), and the surrounding narrative likewise doubles: 2 Kings 18:18 with Isaiah 36:3, 18:26 with Isaiah 36:11, 18:37 with Isaiah 36:22, each sharing the rare name-cluster H471 Eliakim (12 vv), H7644 Shebna (9 vv), H7262 Rabshakeh (16 vv). Gill states the fact from the other side: this material is, in his word, "verbatim" the same as Isaiah 37, and he simply refers the reader there for the exposition. K&D record one place where the two texts are not identical: the word order "Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz" in Kings is unusual and is altered in Isaiah to "Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet." Cambridge notes the account is not in Chronicles. ⚙ Which direction the borrowing runs is a real critical question that none of our public-domain sources settles, and we do not settle it either.

Isaiah 37:1 · Isaiah 37:2 · Isaiah 37:3 · Isaiah 37:6 · Isaiah 36:3 · Isaiah 36:11 · Isaiah 36:22

basis: Verifier: dense shared Hebrew lexemes across the whole passage, including the rare name-cluster H471 ʼElyâqîym (in 12 vv), H7644 Shebnâʼ (in 9 vv), H7262 Rabshâqêh (in 16 vv) at Isaiah 36:3 and 36:11, plus H2396, H6869, H3581 at Isaiah 37:3 and H3680, H8242, H5608 at Isaiah 37:2. This is near-verbatim parallel text, not allusion; Gill calls it verbatim the same. Direction of dependence not determined.

Torn garments: the officers, then the king structural / thematic: confirmed

2 Kings 18:37 ends with Eliakim, Shebna and Joah coming to Hezekiah with their clothes rent; 19:1 opens with Hezekiah tearing his. The Verifier records the shared lexemes H7167 qâraʻ (to rend), H899 beged (garment) and H2396 Hezekiah, and the same cluster at Isaiah 36:22. The Pulpit Commentary makes the connection explicit: the king rends his clothes "following the example of his chief officers, who came into his presence with their clothes rent," and adds that it was natural the king should be even more strongly affected than his ministers. Cambridge puts it the same way: the king was struck with horror as much as his counsellors. ⚙ The link is narrative continuity within one continuous account rather than allusion between separate texts, so we record it as structural despite the shared vocabulary; qâraʻ (60 vv) and beged (190 vv) are too common to carry a verbal claim on their own.

2 Kings 18:37 · Isaiah 36:22

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H7167 qâraʻ (in 60 vv), H899 beged (in 190 vv), H2396 Chizqîyâh (in 116 vv). Real shared vocabulary, but all three are common and the two verses belong to one continuous narrative, so the honest tier is structural, not verbal.

Sackcloth, and the prophet who once took it off structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier pairs this unit with Isaiah 20:2 on H8242 saq (sackcloth, in 46 vv) together with H531 ʼÂmôwts (Amoz, in 13 vv). At Isaiah 20:2 the LORD tells Isaiah son of Amoz to loose the sackcloth from his loins and walk stripped, as a three year sign against trusting Egypt and Cush. ⚙ The overlap of the two names is a coincidence of the Verifier's arithmetic, since Amoz is simply Isaiah's patronymic in both places. The motif, however, is not coincidental, and it is worth stating carefully: the prophet whose removal of sackcloth had once been a sign against confidence in Egypt is now visited by an embassy wearing it, at a moment when Barnes says the only hope left was in Yahweh, for Egypt could not be trusted to effect anything of importance. We claim no quotation and no literary dependence, only that the same prophet stands at both ends of the sign.

Isaiah 20:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H8242 saq (in 46 vv) and H531 ʼÂmôwts (in 13 vv). The name match is incidental (Amoz is Isaiah's father in both); the sackcloth motif and the shared Egypt question are the actual connection, which is thematic. Barnes supplies the Egypt point.

The living God reproached, and the one who confesses Him structural / thematic: confirmed

Hezekiah's whole plea turns on a single adjective, חַי: the Rabshakeh was sent to reproach the living God. Barnes, JFB, K&D and the Pulpit Commentary all connect it to 1 Samuel 17:26, where David asks who this uncircumcised Philistine is that he should reproach the armies of the living God, and the Pulpit Commentary lists the standing chain of the title (Deuteronomy 5:26; Joshua 3:10; Psalm 42:2; Psalm 84:2; Hosea 1:10). ⚙ We extend the motif once, into the New Testament, and mark the extension as ours: at Caesarea Philippi Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the answer given is that the gates of Hades will not prevail against what is built on that confession. This is a cross-Testament link and therefore cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers; Greek θεοῦ ζῶντος and Hebrew ʼĕlōhîm chay are different lexicons. What is shared is the divine title used at the exact point where a hostile power is being told it will not hold.

1 Samuel 17:26 · Matthew 16:16

basis: Hebrew side: the title chay ʼĕlôhîym (H2416 + H430) at 2 Kings 19:4, referred to 1 Samuel 17:26 by Barnes, JFB, K&D and the Pulpit Commentary. NT side: cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier is claimed; the link is the shared divine title and its shared setting of a hostile power being answered. The Matthew half is machine synthesis, not sourced from the brief.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The prophet asked to pray, and the Prophet who is the Intercessor ancient/widely-held

The errand of vv. 2 to 5 is intercession and nothing else. Hezekiah does not ask Isaiah for a strategy, a treaty or an oracle of victory; he asks him to lift up a prayer for the remnant that is found. Henry states the principle and then makes the redemptive-historical turn himself: "Those who speak from God to us, we should in a particular manner desire to speak to God for us. The great Prophet is the great Intercessor." ⚙ That is the figure precisely. The office Hezekiah appeals to, one who bears God's word to the people and the people's case to God, is held in fragments by Isaiah and wholly by Christ, who is both the Word spoken to us and the one who ever lives to make intercession for those who come to God through Him. Note the shape the request takes, since it survives the transition: the plea is not the remnant's worth but God's insulted honour, and the prayer is lifted by someone other than the one in distress.

Hebrews 7:25 · Romans 8:34 · John 17:9

No strength to bring forth novel

Verse 3 names a condition, not an event: the child has reached the mishbêr and there is ʼayin kôach, no strength, to deliver. K&D describe it as the most desperate of circumstances, where both lives hang. ⚙ We read the redemptive-historical shape of the verse this way, and mark it as our own extension rather than a reading any of our sources makes. Scripture returns to this exact figure at the far end: Isaiah 66:7 to 9 answers it directly, with Zion bringing forth before she travailed and the LORD asking whether He who causes to bring forth would shut the womb; Revelation 12:2 and 5 set a woman crying out in birth pangs, a dragon waiting, and a son delivered and caught up to God. The line that runs between them is the one Hezekiah could not cross under his own power. Judah's deliverance in this chapter comes entirely in verbs with God as subject, and so does the birth in Isaiah 66. ⚙ The figural reading is ours; the verbal link to Hosea 13:13 is the only mishbêr parallel the Verifier supports, and Isaiah 66 and Revelation 12 use different vocabulary.

Isaiah 66:7-9 · Revelation 12:2 · Revelation 12:5

The remnant that is found ancient/widely-held

Hezekiah asks prayer for הַשְּׁאֵרִית הַנִּמְצָאָה, the remnant that is found, and our sources narrow it hard: Barnes to Judah alone, after Galilee, Gilead and Samaria were carried away; Geneva to Jerusalem, which only remained of all the cities of Judah; Poole to a small remnant mentioned precisely as an argument to move God's compassion. ⚙ Isaiah, in the same crisis and by the same prophet's ministry, turns shᵉʼêrîyth into a doctrine (Isaiah 1:9, which the Pulpit Commentary cites here; Isaiah 10:20 to 22), and Paul takes it up as the settled apostolic reading of how God keeps a people: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved." The christological point is the one Paul draws in the same chapters: the remnant exists because of a seed left by the LORD of Hosts, and the one who preserves it is the one it is preserved for. This unit gives the remnant its grammar, a Nifal participle, something found rather than something that held out.

Isaiah 1:9 · Isaiah 10:22 · Romans 9:27-29

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering; parsing as given there. No textual variant in this unit is disputed in our sources, but the passage is doubled at Isaiah 37:1 to 7 and the two Hebrew texts differ in small ways. K&D record one: the word order "Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz" in 2 Kings 19:2 is unusual and appears as "Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet" in Isaiah. Cambridge notes at v. 6 that the Hebrew of Isaiah "corresponds exactly" where the older English of Kings had drifted. Gill treats the whole block as verbatim the same as Isaiah 37 and declines to expound it twice, which is why his entry is identical at every verse of this unit and says little about vv. 2 to 7 in particular.

Three genuine uncertainties, left open rather than resolved. (1) nᵉʼâtsâh in v. 3: K&D and the Pulpit Commentary read God's contemptuous rejection of His people; Ellicott, via Nehemiah 9:18 and 9:26, reads provocation offered to God; Cambridge's R.V. gives "contumely." (2) rûwach in v. 7: the LXX, R.V., Barnes, Cambridge, K&D and Ellicott read "a spirit in him," an inward impulse of fear; Benson, Poole and the Pulpit Commentary defend "a blast upon him" from Exodus 15:8 and Isaiah 25:4, and Poole identifies the rûach with the angel of 19:35. The Pulpit Commentary's judgment that the prophecy was intentionally vague is itself a reading, not a neutral report. (3) The referent of shᵉmûwʻâh in v. 7: K&D argue at length for the Tirhakah report of 19:9 and against the destruction of the army; the Pulpit Commentary argues for the destruction of the army and answers K&D's objection directly. We give both and decide neither.

Provenance notes on the voices: K&D at v. 1 are quoting Theodoret, not speaking in their own voice, and we say so in the editorial note. Poole and Benson at v. 3 are almost identical in wording, Benson evidently drawing on Poole; both identify the unborn child with Hezekiah's reformation, which is interpretation rather than translation. Barnes at v. 1 reconstructs Hezekiah's interior state (dispirited, half doubting his own policy) from the narrative situation rather than from anything 19:1 says. Henry's entry covers vv. 1 to 7 as one block and is not verse-specific. Poole has no entry at vv. 1, 2, 5 and 6.

⚙ Machine synthesis in this unit, declared: the reading of bayith across vv. 1 and 2 (palace and temple), the tracking of shâmaʻ as the unit's governing verb, the ʻebed against naʻar contrast in vv. 5 and 6 and the reading of it as a deliberate demotion, the observation that v. 6 moves the charge from third person to first, the sola reading in full, the Matthew 16:16 half of the living God thread, and the Isaiah 66 and Revelation 12 christological reading, which is marked novel. Historical data on Sennacherib's deportations comes from the Pulpit Commentary citing the Eponym Canon, not from us; Gill's report of Rauwolff's 1575 traveller's account of two burial pits near Bethlehem and Bethel is quoted by Gill but not relied on here.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)