2 Kings 19:30

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The prophet Isaiah delivers God’s message to King Hezekiah during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem. The promise addresses the surviving remnant of Judah, confirming their restoration after temporary devastation.

The words — The Hebrew verb יָסְפָה (yaśp̄ēh) literally means "it will add" or "again," paired with שֹׁרֶשׁ (šōreš), "root," and עָשָׂה (ʿāśâ), "produce." These terms frame the remnant’s survival as a deliberate, renewed act of growth rather than mere preservation.

The thread — This agricultural metaphor echoes Isaiah 27:6, where Jacob takes root and Israel buds to fill the earth, and aligns with the sign in 2 Kings 19:29 regarding the third year of sowing and reaping. The theme of a surviving remnant returning from Jerusalem also appears in 2 Kings 19:31 and 2 Chronicles 32:22.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine preservation operates through temporary loss and deliberate renewal. A reader must accept that survival is not accidental but the direct result of God’s pledged action.

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

וְיָ֨סְפָ֜הve./Ya.se.Fahand/ it will add פְּלֵיטַ֧תpe.lei.Tat[the] escaped remnant of בֵּית־beit-[the] house of יְהוּדָ֛הye.hu.DahJudah הַנִּשְׁאָרָ֖הha./nish.'a.Rahwhich/ remains שֹׁ֣רֶשׁSho.resha root לְמָ֑טָּהle./Ma.tah<to>/ downwards וְעָשָׂ֥הve./'a.Sahand/ it will produce פְרִ֖יfe.Rifruit לְמָֽעְלָה׃le./Ma.'e.la/h<to>/ upwards/ <towards>

King James Version

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

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.”
Isaiah 27:6 In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
2 Chronicles 32:22 So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria and all others, and He gave them rest on every side.
Isaiah 10:20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
Isaiah 37:31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
Psalms 80:9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.