2 Kings Chapter 19

At a Glance

  • Chapter 19 unfolds as a crisis narrative within Hezekiah’s reign.
  • The chapter foregrounds prayer, prophetic confirmation, and the tension between boastful imperial power and the faithful worship of the living God.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • This chapter sits squarely in the Isaianic-informed Deuteronomistic frame of Hezekiah’s crisis.
  • - Prayer as the first response to crisis.

2 KINGS CHAPTER 19

Chapter Overview

Chapter 19 unfolds as a crisis narrative within Hezekiah’s reign. After learning of the Assyrian threat and Rabshakeh’s arrogant blasphemies against the living God, Hezekiah retreats to prayer. He tears his clothes and covers himself with sackcloth, a ritual sign of humility before the LORD in dire circumstances. He then sends a delegation to the prophet Isaiah to seek the LORD’s word on deliverance for the remnant that remains. Isaiah delivers a prophetic word that counters fear: do not be afraid of Rabshakeh’s threats, for God will cause the Assyrian host to fall by the sword in its own land. The king’s confidence shifts from human diplomacy to divine promise. The narrative tracks the dramatic partial fulfillment of that word as Rabshakeh’s campaigns falter due to political maneuvers and strategic missteps, culminating in his withdrawal and return to his own land, where he meets a perilous fate.

The chapter foregrounds prayer, prophetic confirmation, and the tension between boastful imperial power and the faithful worship of the living God. It also emphasizes the mercy and sovereignty of God: the defect in Assyria’s power is not merely military but theological—God is the one who hears, acts, and judges. The chapter ends with a note of national humility yet hope: deliverance is God’s work, and Hezekiah’s trust becomes a template for how Judah can face further threats. The theological anthem is clear: when God speaks, even the mightiest empire must respond to the LORD’s purposes.

Historical & Literary Context

This chapter sits squarely in the Isaianic-informed Deuteronomistic frame of Hezekiah’s crisis. It blends royal courtroom drama with prophetic agency, showing the king consulting Isaiah and the prophet delivering God’s verdict. The literary texture emphasizes speech—the words of Rabshakeh, Hezekiah’s prayer, Isaiah’s oracle—and the cumulative effect is a drama of faith under siege. Compositionally, it bridges the disaster narrative of Assyrian encroachments with a decisive act of divine intervention that demonstrates the LORD’s supremacy over foreign powers.

Key Themes

- Prayer as the first response to crisis

- The reliability of prophetic word in times of fear

- God’s sovereignty over nations and blasphemous threats

- Divine deliverance that transcends human strategic prowess

- Humility before God as posture of trust

Modern Application

Contemporary readers can draw from Hezekiah’s model: when confronted by overwhelming threats—whether personal, communal, or geopolitical—turn first to prayer and seek God’s perspective through scripture and faithful counsel. The chapter also teaches discernment: not every crisis demands a grand political response; sometimes faithfulness, humility, and reliance on God’s promises are the most effective strategy. It encourages trust in God’s ability to thwart threats that seem invincible, challenging readers to resist the temptation to respond with bluster or self-reliance. The Isaiah partnership highlights the value of spiritual mentors and prophetic voices that help interpret events through the lens of divine sovereignty.

- Isaiah 36-37 (prophetic confrontation with Assyria)

- 2 Kings 18 (Hezekiah’s initial reform and confrontation with Sennacherib)

- Psalm 46 (trust in the Lord amid turmoil)

- Deuteronomy 28 (exile and deliverance motifs)

Recommended Personas

- Isaiah (primary prophetic voice in this crisis)

- Hezekiah (leadership under pressure)

- Jesus (trust under temptation, prayer in crisis)

Chapter Text

1

And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2

And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

3

And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4

It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

5

So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6

And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7

Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8

So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9

And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

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 delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11

Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

12

Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

13

Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

14

And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

15

And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

16

LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

17

Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

18

And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

19

Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

20

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

21

This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

22

Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

23

By thy messengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

24

I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

25

Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

26

Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

27

But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

28

Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

29

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

30

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

31

For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

32

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

33

By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

34

For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

35

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36

So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37

And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

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