Bible Strands
Isaiah 36:1
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah 36:1 opens a historical account of Sennacherib’s military campaign against Judah during the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign. The text establishes the immediate moment before the Assyrian forces advance to Jerusalem and deploy their commanders.
The words — The Hebrew verb עָלָה ('a.Lah) literally means "he went up," the standard biblical idiom for a military force advancing into a highland territory. The temporal phrase בְּאַרְבַּע עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה (be./'ar.Ba 'es.Reh sha.Nah) fixes the event to a precise chronological marker in Hezekiah’s reign.
The thread — This campaign is recorded in parallel at 2 Kings 18:13 and 2 Chronicles 32:1, which confirm the same invasion and siege operations. The narrative continues in Isaiah 36:2 as the Assyrian king dispatches his officers from Lachish toward Jerusalem.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge the concrete reality of Judah’s military collapse before any theological or political response. It presents historical facts as the necessary ground for evaluating human authority and divine 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
King James Version
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 32:1 After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.
- 2 Kings 18:13 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
- 2 Kings 18:17 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.
- Isaiah 10:28 Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash.
- Isaiah 1:7 Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
- Isaiah 7:17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.”
- Isaiah 8:7 the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
- Isaiah 33:7 Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.