2 Chronicles 32:13

Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of these nations ever been able to deliver their land from my hand?

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Sennacherib addresses the people of Judah and Jerusalem during the Assyrian siege, citing his own and his fathers' military campaigns. He challenges their confidence in Judah’s God by pointing to Hezekiah’s removal of local altars.

The words — The Hebrew phrase לֹא תֵדְעוּ (lo te‘dē‘û) literally means “do you not know?” and introduces a rhetorical challenge. The verb עָשִׂיתִי (‘āsîṯî), “I have done,” asserts the speaker’s personal agency in the conquests he lists.

The thread — This rhetorical question about national gods failing to stop Assyria appears in 2 Kings 18:33. The historical pattern of Assyrian conquests is recorded in 2 Kings 15:29 and 2 Kings 17:5.

Why it lands — It forces the reader to confront the gap between claimed divine protection and observable historical defeat. It demands a plain assessment of power before any theological conclusion is drawn.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

הֲלֹ֣אha./Lo'¿/ not תֵדְע֗וּte.de.'Udo you know מֶ֤הmehwhat?עָשִׂ֙יתִי֙'a.Si.tihave I done אֲנִ֣י'a.NiI וַאֲבוֹתַ֔יva./'a.vo.Ta/iand/ fathers/ my לְכֹ֖לle./Kholto/ all עַמֵּ֣י'a.Mei[the] peoples of הָאֲרָצ֑וֹתha./'a.ra.Tzotthe/ lands הֲיָכ֣וֹלha./ya.Khol¿/ really <to be able>יָֽכְל֗וּya.khe.Luwere they able אֱלֹהֵי֙'e.lo.Hei[the] gods of גּוֹיֵ֣go.Ye[the] nations of הָאֲרָצ֔וֹתha./'a.ra.Tzotthe/ lands לְהַצִּ֥ילle./ha.Tzilto/ deliver אֶת־'et-<obj.>אַרְצָ֖ם'ar.Tza/mland/ their מִיָּדִֽי׃mi./ya.D/ifrom/ hand/ my

King James Version

Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand?

Cross-references

2 Kings 18:33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
2 Kings 17:5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.
2 Kings 19:11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
2 Kings 19:17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste these nations and their lands.
2 Chronicles 32:19 They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth—the work of human hands.
Psalms 115:3 Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
Isaiah 10:9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
Isaiah 10:14 My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”
Isaiah 37:12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?