2 Chronicles 32:4-14

4 So many people assembled ¹and stopped up all the springs and ²the stream which flowed through the region, saying, "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?"

5 And he took courage and ³rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built ⁴another outside wall and strengthened the ⁵Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number.

6 He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and ⁶spoke encouragingly * to them, saying,

7 "⁷Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because * of the king of Assyria nor because * of all the horde that is with him; ⁸for the one with us is greater than the one with him.

8 "With him is only ⁹an arm of flesh, but ¹⁰with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Sennacherib Undermines Hezekiah

9 After this ¹¹Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,

10 "Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, 'On what are you trusting that you are remaining in Jerusalem under siege?

11 'Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, "The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria "?

12 '¹²Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, "You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense "?

13 'Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? ¹³Were the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand?

14 '¹⁴Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?

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2 Chronicles 32:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 32

This chapter relates Sennacherib's invasion of the land of Judah, the preparations Hezekiah made to resist him, and the encouragement he gave his people to trust in the Lord, 2Ch 32:1-8 the messages and letters Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah and his subjects, full of arrogance and blasphemy, to solicit them to deliver up Jerusalem to him, 2Ch 32:9-19 the destruction of his army by an angel, and the deliverance of the Jews at the prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah, 2Ch 32:20-23 the sin Hezekiah fell into after this, and his recovery from a fit of illness; but, upon his humiliation for it, wrath was averted, 2Ch 32:24-26 and the chapter is concluded with an account of his honours, riches, and exploits, and of his death and burial, 2Ch 32:27-33.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 14

1. 2 Kings 20:20
2. 2 Chronicles 32:30
3. 2 Chronicles 25:23
4. 2 Kings 25:4
5. 1 Kings 9:24
6. 2 Chronicles 30:22
7. 1 Chronicles 22:13
8. 2 Kings 6:16
9. Jeremiah 17:5
10. 2 Chronicles 20:17
11. 2 Kings 18:17
12. 2 Chronicles 31:1
13. 2 Kings 18:33-35
14. Isaiah 10:9-11

Footnotes 7

[a]. Lit "in the midst of the land"
[b]. Lit "raised on the towers"
[c]. Lit "upon their hearts"
[d]. Lit "against"
[e]. Lit "palm"
[f]. Lit "Jerusalem, saying,"
[g]. Lit "offer up in smoke"