Isaiah 37:25

I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Sennacherib, king of Assyria, speaks through his messengers to the people of Jerusalem, boasting of his military campaigns. The prophet Isaiah relays these words to King Hezekiah and the Lord as a direct challenge.

The words — קַ֖רְתִּי (Kar.ti) translates literally as "I have dug," and אַחְרִב (ach.riv) means "I may dry up." These verbs frame the king's claim that he created and conquered natural resources by his own power.

The thread — The boast echoes the siege rhetoric in 2 Kings 19:23 and the dust threat in 1 Kings 20:10. It also contrasts with the land description in Deuteronomy 11:10, which distinguishes Judah's terrain from Egypt's water-dependent system.

Why it lands — The text records a human claim of absolute control over nature and fortified cities. The surrounding context demands the reader recognize that such autonomy is a calculated illusion, since the events were ordained by God to judge rather than to elevate the speaker.

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

אֲנִ֥י'a.NiI קַ֖רְתִּיKar.tiI have dug וְשָׁתִ֣יתִיve./sha.Ti.tiand/ I have drunk מָ֑יִםMa.yimwater וְאַחְרִב֙ve./'ach.Rivso/ I may dry up בְּכַף־be./khaf-with/ [the] sole of פְּעָמַ֔יpe.'a.Ma/ifeet/ my כֹּ֖לkolall יְאֹרֵ֥יye.'o.Rei[the] canals of מָצֽוֹר׃ma.TzorEgypt

King James Version

I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

Cross-references

1 Kings 20:10 Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”
Deuteronomy 11:10 For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.
2 Kings 19:23 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
Isaiah 36:12 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”