Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:25
Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Sennacherib of Assyria immediately after the Assyrian king boasts of drying up Egypt’s waters and conquering fortified cities.
The words — The text foregrounds עָשִׂ֔יתִי ('a.Si.ti) = I appointed and קֶ֖דֶם (Ke.dem) = antiquity, marking the decree as prior to its historical execution.
The thread — The identical declaration appears in Isaiah 37:26 and aligns with the sovereignty claims of Isaiah 45:7 and Isaiah 10:5.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that military conquest and urban destruction function only within a timeline previously established by divine decree.
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
Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- Isaiah 37:26 Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Psalms 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.
- Psalms 76:10 Even the wrath of man shall praise You; with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.
- Isaiah 10:15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!
- Isaiah 54:16 Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.
- Acts 4:27 In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.