Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:16
Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hezekiah addresses Yahweh, the God of Israel enthroned between the cherubim, immediately after affirming God's exclusive sovereignty over the earth's kingdoms (2 Kings 19:15). He speaks at the precise moment Assyria's military threats are being delivered to Judah.
The words — The Hebrew הַטֵּה (ha.Teh) and פְּקַח (pe.Kach) issue parallel imperatives for God to "incline" His ear and "open" His eyes. These commands frame the subsequent request to perceive the specific boasts sent by Sennacherib.
The thread — The plea for divine perception aligns with 2 Chronicles 6:40 and Psalm 31:2, while directly responding to the defiances of the Rabshakeh recorded in 2 Kings 19:4. The verse bridges the broader biblical motif of God's attentive judgment with the immediate Assyrian crisis.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to present specific human boasts directly before God's attention rather than assuming automatic intervention. It establishes divine perception as the necessary prerequisite for righteous response to political intimidation.
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
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.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 19:4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
- 2 Chronicles 6:40 Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
- Psalms 31:2 Incline Your ear to me; come quickly to my rescue. Be my rock of refuge, the stronghold of my deliverance.
- Isaiah 37:17 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
- 1 Kings 8:29 May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.
- Daniel 9:18 Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.
- Psalms 79:12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.
- Isaiah 37:4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
- Hebrews 11:26 He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.