Bible Strands
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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hezekiah instructs his servants to deliver a message to the prophet Isaiah during a moment of national crisis, noting that Judah faces distress and disgrace without the strength to respond. He commands them to pray for the surviving remnant while the Assyrian official Rabshakeh delivers defiant words against God.
The words — The verse begins with אוּלַי ('u.Lai), literally “perhaps,” marking a conditional hope rather than a fixed prediction. It continues with יִשְׁמַע (yish.ma), “he will hear,” directly linked to יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ (Yahweh Eloheikha), “Yahweh your God,” identifying the specific divine listener to the Rabshakeh’s threats.
The thread — This structure of conditional supplication mirrors the appeals in 2 Samuel 16:12 and Joshua 14:12, where leaders ask God to notice their circumstances amid uncertainty. The expectation that God will hear and act corresponds to the covenantal promise in Ezekiel 36:37 that He will answer the plea of Israel.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to distinguish between the factual report of Assyrian defiance and the conditional hope that God will hear and rebuke it. It demands immediate intercession for the surviving community while placing the outcome entirely in God’s hands.
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
It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rab–shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 16:12 Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”
- Joshua 14:12 Now therefore give me this hill country that the LORD promised me on that day, for you yourself heard then that the Anakim were there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps with the LORD’s help I will drive them out, as the LORD has spoken.”
- Ezekiel 36:37 This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.
- Romans 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
- James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- Deuteronomy 32:36 For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
- 1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
- 1 Samuel 17:45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
- 2 Kings 17:5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.