2 Kings 18:20
in 2 Kings 18You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
KJV
Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
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This verse in 2 Kings 18
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Hezekiah no doubt believed that in the “counsel” of Eliakim and Isaiah, and in the “strength” promised him by Egypt, he had resources which justified him in provoking a war. Vain words - literally, as in margin, i. e., a mere word, to which the facts do not correspond.
This site's exposition
What is the basis of this confidence
on 2 Kings 18:19-21
The Rabshakeh opens with one word, "confidence," the ground Hezekiah's trust in the LORD claims. The speech is built to attack that word from every side. The taunt fits a real weakness: Egypt in this period could not reliably help the small states that counted on it against Assyria.
This site's exposition
these are empty words
Barnes gives empty words its literal sense, a mere word with no facts behind it. He held that Hezekiah counted on counsel from Eliakim and Isaiah and on strength promised by Egypt when he rebelled at verse 7. Ephrem the Syrian read Sennacherib as a type of the devil.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
As I have already said, Sennacherib is a type of the devil, and this hypothesis is perfectly confirmed by the words that in this passage the Rabshakeh boastfully speaks against God when he makes false promises to the people, trying to take away from [God] …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
What an idol did he make of that prince whose creature he was! God is the great King, but Sennacherib was in his eye a little god, and he would possess them with the same veneration for him that he had, and thereby frighten them into a submission to him. But to those who by faith see the King of kings in his power and glory even the king of Assyria looks mean and little.
His great piety, which was the more wonderful because his father was very wicked and vile, one of the worst of the kings, yet he was one of the best, which may intimate to us that what good there is in any is not of nature, but of grace, free grace, sovereign grace, which, contrary to nature, grafts into the good olive that which was wild by nature ( Rom. xi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙ | ʾamarta | you have said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אַךְ־ | ʾakh- | only | H389 → | 161 times |
| דְּבַר־ | devar- | a word of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| שְׂפָתַ֔יִם | sefatayim | lips | H8193 → | 176 times |
| עֵצָ֥ה | ʾetzah | counsel | H6098 → | |
| וּגְבוּרָ֖ה | ugevurah | and strength | H1369 → | 61 times |
| לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה | lamilchamah | for <the> war | H4421 → | 320 times |
| עַתָּה֙ | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִ֣י | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| בָטַ֔חְתָּ | vatachta | do you rely | H982 → | 120 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מָרַ֖דְתָּ | maradta | you have rebelled | H4775 → | 25 times |
| בִּֽי׃ | bi | against me |
אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙you have said
ʾamartaH559 →5305 times
אַךְ־only
ʾakh-H389 →161 times
דְּבַר־a word of
devar-H1697 →1440 times
שְׂפָתַ֔יִםlips
sefatayimH8193 →176 times
עֵצָ֥הcounsel
ʾetzahH6098 →
וּגְבוּרָ֖הand strength
ugevurahH1369 →61 times
לַמִּלְחָמָ֑הfor <the> war
lamilchamahH4421 →320 times
עַתָּה֙now
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִ֣יwhom?
miH4310 →423 times
בָטַ֔חְתָּdo you rely
vatachtaH982 →120 times
כִּ֥יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
מָרַ֖דְתָּyou have rebelled
maradtaH4775 →25 times
בִּֽי׃against me
bi
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 18:19; F. W. Farrar, The Second Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.