Bible Strands
Isaiah 37:20
And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Hezekiah addresses Yahweh, petitioning for deliverance from the Assyrian king’s military force during an active siege. The prayer is recorded immediately after Hezekiah reads Sennacherib’s threatening letter and before Isaiah relays God’s forthcoming judgment.
The words — הוֹשִׁיעֵ֖/נוּ (ho.shi.'E./nu) translates literally as “save us,” and וְ/יֵֽדְעוּ֙ (ve./ye.de.'U) means “so they may know.” These verbs structure the prayer’s progression from immediate rescue to the resulting revelation of divine identity.
The thread — The demand that hostile nations recognize Yahweh’s exclusive rule parallels the declaration in Psalm 46:10 and the altar appeal in 1 Kings 18:36, where foreign observation is tied to divine vindication.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to accept that divine intervention is intended to produce public knowledge of God’s sole sovereignty, not merely private relief. It places the recognition of all earthly kingdoms as the necessary outcome of any act of deliverance.
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 therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.
Cross-references
- Psalms 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”
- 1 Kings 18:36 At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.
- Psalms 83:17 May they be ever ashamed and terrified; may they perish in disgrace.
- Psalms 67:1 For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
- Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.
- Ezekiel 36:23 I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.
- Malachi 1:11 For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Exodus 9:15 For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.
- Joshua 7:8 O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?
- 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.