Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:34
I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks to Hezekiah through Isaiah, declaring His immediate intervention against the Assyrian threat. This promise is issued after the Assyrian king's boastful defiance and just before the reported destruction of his army.
The words — וְ/גַנּוֹתִ֛י (ve./ga.no.Ti) literally means "and I will defend," paired with לְ/הֽוֹשִׁיעָ֑/הּ (le./ho.shi.'A/h) meaning "to deliver it." The text explicitly grounds this action in two motives: לְמַֽעֲנִ֔/י (le.ma.'a./Ni) "for My own sake" and לְמַ֖עַן דָּוִ֥ד (le.Ma.'an David) "for the sake of David."
The thread — The phrase "for the sake of David" recurs in 1 Kings 11:12, 2 Kings 20:6, and 1 Kings 15:4 as a consistent covenantal rationale for preserving Jerusalem and David's lineage. These references establish a pattern where David's legacy functions as the stated ground for divine preservation.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Jerusalem's survival depends on God's self-referential commitment and His covenantal loyalty to David, not on the city's military strength. A reader must acknowledge that divine intervention is presented as a deliberate act of sovereign promise rather than a response to human merit.
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
For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 11:12 Nevertheless, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
- 2 Kings 20:6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
- 1 Kings 15:4 Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong.
- Isaiah 31:5 Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”
- Jeremiah 33:26 then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.”
- Isaiah 38:6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
- Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
- Jeremiah 33:21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne.
- Deuteronomy 32:27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
- Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.