Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:22
Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers the LORD’s rhetorical challenge to the Assyrian king immediately after Sennacherib’s boastful message against Judah. The speech confronts the king’s arrogance at the moment his military threats are being answered by divine judgment.
The words — The Hebrew מִי (mi) means “whom?” and appears twice to frame the accusation. The verb חֵרַפְתָּ (che.Raf.ta) literally means “have you taunted,” paired with גִדַּפְתָּ (gi.Daf.ta) for “have you blasphemed.”
The thread — The title “Holy One of Israel” appears in Isaiah 30:11 and Psalms 71:22, while the warning against opposing God’s word runs parallel to Isaiah 5:24. The rhetorical pattern of questioning the target of pride recurs in prophetic judgments against nations.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader identify the true object of the king’s defiance and recognize that pride directed against divine authority is structurally futile. It requires a clear assessment of who holds power before any judgment is executed.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Psalms 71:22 So I will praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to You with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 30:11 Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”
- Isaiah 30:15 For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.”
- Jeremiah 51:5 For Israel and Judah have not been abandoned by their God, the LORD of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4 He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Exodus 5:2 But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
- Exodus 9:17 Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.
- 2 Kings 18:28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
- 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.”