Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:33
He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks this declaration to Hezekiah and the Judean leadership regarding the campaign of Sennacherib king of Assyria. The message is delivered during a siege crisis when Assyrian forces surround Jerusalem.
The words — The Hebrew foregrounds יָשׁוּב (ya.Shuv, “he will return”) and לֹ֥א (lo', “not”) to frame a stark reversal of military movement. The phrase בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יָבֹא (ba.Derekh 'asher ya.Vo, “by the way he came”) underscores a complete, undirected retreat.
The thread — This promise of withdrawn aggression echoes the hook and bit imagery of 2 Kings 19:28, where divine control redirects royal arrogance. Its fulfillment is recorded in 2 Kings 19:36, where Sennacherib breaks camp and returns to Nineveh.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that military outcomes depend on sovereign decree rather than human strategy. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine intervention operates through specific, observable reversals of power.
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
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 19:28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- 2 Kings 19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.