Bible Strands
2 Kings 18:19
The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Rabshakeh addresses the three Jewish officials (Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah) who have come out to him, demanding they deliver a message to King Hezekiah. He speaks on behalf of the Assyrian monarch to probe the foundation of Judah’s resistance at this military standoff.
The words — The Hebrew רַב־שָׁקֵה (rav-shaqeh) identifies the speaker as the "chief commander," while אִמְרוּ (imru) is the imperative "say." The verse hinges on this command to transmit the Assyrian king’s direct inquiry about Hezekiah’s confidence.
The thread — This exchange is recorded verbatim in Isaiah 36:4 and anticipates the direct theological challenge in 2 Kings 19:10. The Assyrian commander’s rhetoric of self-sufficiency aligns with the arrogance condemned in Isaiah 10:8.
Why it lands — The text records a foreign military leader demanding the three Jewish envoys deliver a direct inquiry about King Hezekiah’s confidence. It forces the reader to confront the contrast between human military reliance and the theological foundation of Judah’s resistance.
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
King James Version
And Rab–shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Cross-references
- Isaiah 36:4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?
- 2 Kings 19:10 “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
- Isaiah 10:8 “Are not all my commanders kings?” he says.
- 2 Kings 18:22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
- 2 Kings 18:29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand.
- 2 Chronicles 32:7 “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him.
- 2 Chronicles 32:10 “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What is the basis of your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?
- 2 Chronicles 32:14 Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?
- Psalms 4:2 How long, O men, will my honor be maligned? How long will you love vanity and seek after lies? Selah
- Isaiah 36:7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?