2 Kings 19:14–19, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Kings 19:14–19
Hezekiah spreads the letter before God
Hezekiah takes the letter upstairs and spreads it out
Hezekiah receives the letter from the messengers and reads it. He goes up into the house of the LORD and spreads it before the LORD. The threat is not hidden in a court file. It is laid out in the place Judah names as God's dwelling.
He prays: O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, open thine eyes, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
He admits the conquests and asks to be saved for a public reason
Of a truth, he says, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. He does not pretend the empire is weak. He distinguishes manufactured gods from the Maker, then asks: save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
The prayer is particular: this letter, this reproach, this city. It does not make every threatening message false, promise national rescue as a standing policy, or authorize contempt for living religious communities whose images are not these wood-and-stone idols. Other people remain people when their gods are called the work of hands.
How this should shape us
Tell God the truth you would rather deny, including an enemy's real strength. Ask for help without turning other people's worship into a joke, and without assuming that spreading a threat on a holy table guarantees your nation's survival.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Kings 19:14–19 in your own words. Include its movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one affected or obscured person, and one misuse the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The received narrative supplies its theological interpretation, but the precise source history, chronology, motives, and external correlation remain open to graded historical judgment.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
2 Kings 19:14–19, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 19:14–19
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 657–659, translation and translator notes for 19:14–19
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 261–265, exposition covering 2 Kings 19:14–19
Supports: Only publisher-visible framing for Judah under Israelite, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian power using texts, inscriptions, and archaeology with limits.
Hasegawa, 'History and Archaeology: The Kingdom of Judah,' Oxford Handbook (2024), official abstract and metadata for pp. 243–257
Supports: Sennacherib's imperial account of campaign, confinement, and tribute, which does not claim Jerusalem's capture or give Kings' cause for withdrawal.
British Museum object W_1855-1003-1, complete Taylor Prism record and description of Sennacherib's 701 BCE campaign and Hezekiah's tribute
Supports: Primary imperial imagery making the human and material violence against Judean communities beyond Jerusalem visible.
British Museum object W_1856-0909-14_5 and connected Lachish gallery record, siege, captives, deportees, military equipment, and palace-display context
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 19:14–19, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 19:14–19
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 657–659, translation and translator notes for 19:14–19
Open source ↗scholarly commentary chapter
1 and 2 Kings
Walter Dietrich
The Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Exact location: Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 261–265, exposition covering 2 Kings 19:14–19
Open source ↗scholarly handbook chapter abstract and metadata
History and Archaeology: The Kingdom of Judah
Shuichi Hasegawa
The Oxford Handbook of the Books of Kings, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Only publisher-visible framing for Judah under Israelite, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian power using texts, inscriptions, and archaeology with limits.
Exact location: Hasegawa, 'History and Archaeology: The Kingdom of Judah,' Oxford Handbook (2024), official abstract and metadata for pp. 243–257
Open source ↗seventh century bce primary assyrian inscription and museum record
Taylor Prism: the Annals of Sennacherib
Sennacherib; modern object record by the British Museum
The British Museum, 691 BCE; current museum record
Supports: Sennacherib's imperial account of campaign, confinement, and tribute, which does not claim Jerusalem's capture or give Kings' cause for withdrawal.
Exact location: British Museum object W_1855-1003-1, complete Taylor Prism record and description of Sennacherib's 701 BCE campaign and Hezekiah's tribute
Open source ↗seventh century bce primary assyrian reliefs and museum records
Lachish reliefs
Sennacherib's palace workshop; modern object records by the British Museum
The British Museum, about 700-692 BCE; current museum record
Supports: Primary imperial imagery making the human and material violence against Judean communities beyond Jerusalem visible.
Exact location: British Museum object W_1856-0909-14_5 and connected Lachish gallery record, siege, captives, deportees, military equipment, and palace-display context
Open source ↗