Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:3
to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Hezekiah’s messengers deliver his report to the prophet Isaiah during an active military crisis, as Assyrian forces threaten Jerusalem and the nation faces imminent collapse.
The words — The text anchors the crisis in יוֹם (yom) = day and צָרָה (tza.Rah) = distress, framing the moment as a defined period of siege and pressure rather than a vague future threat.
The thread — The birth metaphor appears in Isaiah 66:9 where God questions whether He will close the womb at the point of delivery, and in Isaiah 26:17 which compares national anguish to a woman in labor.
Why it lands — It demands that the reader acknowledge the gap between human desperation and divine intervention, requiring a direct appeal to God rather than reliance on political or military strength.
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 they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.
- Jeremiah 30:5 Yes, this is what the LORD says: “A cry of panic is heard—a cry of terror, not of peace.
- Isaiah 26:17 As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.
- Hosea 13:13 Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.
- Hebrews 3:15 As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.”
- 2 Kings 18:29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand.
- Psalms 39:11 You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
- Psalms 95:8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Psalms 123:3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy, for we have endured much contempt.
- Hosea 5:15 Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”