2 Kings 18:19-25

19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?

20 You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?

21 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.

22 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

23 “ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

24 How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen^[a] ?

25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”

2 Kings 18:19-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 18

This chapter begins with the good reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, the reformation he made in the kingdom, and the prosperity that attended him when Israel was carried captive, 2Ki 18:1-12 and gives an account of the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Assyria, and of the distress Hezekiah was in, and the hard measures he was obliged to submit unto, 2Ki 18:13-18 and of the reviling and blasphemous speech of Rabshakeh, one of the generals of the king of Assyria, urging the Jews to a revolt from their king, 2Ki 18:19-37.

Cross References

• 1. S ver 5; S Job 4:6
• 2. Isaiah 20:5; Isaiah 31:1; Ezekiel 29:6
• 3. 2 Kings 24:7; Isaiah 20:6; Isaiah 30:5,7; Jeremiah 25:19; Jeremiah 37:7; Jeremiah 46:2
• 4. Isaiah 10:8
• 5. 2 Kings 19:6,22; 2 Kings 24:3; 2 Chronicles 35:21

Footnotes

• [a] Or "charioteers"