Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:12
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?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Assyrian king addresses Judah’s leadership immediately after cataloging his systematic destruction of neighboring territories.
The words — The Hebrew verb הִצִּ֨ילוּ (hi.Tzi.lu) translates “did they deliver,” coupled with אֱלֹהֵ֤י ('e.lo.Hei) meaning “gods of,” which frames the verse’s core rhetorical structure.
The thread — The named locations resurface in 2 Kings 17:6 as destinations for exiled Israelites, in Genesis 11:31 as waypoints on Terah’s migration, and in Ezekiel 27:23 as trading partners of Tyre.
Why it lands — The text demands a factual evaluation of whether the deities of conquered peoples actually prevented their nations from being overrun.
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
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?
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
- Genesis 11:31 And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.
- Ezekiel 27:23 Haran, Canneh, and Eden traded with you, and so did the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad.
- 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?
- Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
- Genesis 29:4 “My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered.
- 2 Kings 18:33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
- 1 Chronicles 5:26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria) to take the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.
- Acts 7:4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.