2 Kings 19:16
in 2 Kings 19Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to defy the living God.
KJV
Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.
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This verse in 2 Kings 19
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
enthroned between the cherubim
on 2 Kings 19:15-19
The prayer moves to a universal claim, "You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth", the claim the letter denied. He turns the letter's record back: the gods were cast "into the fire" as "only wood and stone". The nations' gods failed because "they were not gods".
This site's exposition
Incline Your ear, O LORD
The living God repeats Hezekiah's phrase from verse 4, and David used it of Goliath's taunt at 1 Samuel 17:26. Matthew Henry notes that Hezekiah prays over the letter as proof under Sennacherib's own hand. Henry adds that an insult to Hezekiah alone would have passed.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Prayer sometimes brings the dead back to life, but sometimes it may slay the living, as happened with the godly Peter: he brought Tabitha back to life by prayer, but he effected the death of Ananias and Sapphira. Elisha, that spiritual man, brought to life …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Here it is under his own hand; here it is in black and white." Had Hezekiah only been abused, he would have passed it by; but it is God, the living God, that is reproached, the jealous God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Hezekiah received the letter . . . and went up into the house of the Lord--Hezekiah, after reading it, hastened into the temple, spread it in the childlike confidence of faith before the Lord, as containing taunts deeply affecting the divine honor, and implored deliverance from this proud defier of God and man.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Indeed. It is true that the kings of Ashur destroyed the peoples and put their deities in fire.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַטֵּ֨ה | hateh | incline | H5186 → | 214 times |
| יְהוָ֤ה׀ | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אָזְנְךָ֙ | ʾazenekha | ear your | H241 → | 187 times |
| וּֽשֲׁמָ֔ע | ushama' | and hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| פְּקַ֧ח | pekach | open | H6491 → | 20 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עֵינֶ֖יךָ | ʾeineikha | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וּרְאֵ֑ה | ureeh | and see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וּשְׁמַ֗ע | ushema' | and hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֵ֚ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דִּבְרֵ֣י | divrei | [the] words of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| סַנְחֵרִ֔יב | sancheriv | Sennacherib | H5576 → | 13 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| שְׁלָח֔וֹ | shelacho | he has sent it | H7971 → | 845 times |
| לְחָרֵ֖ף | lecharef | to taunt | H2778 → | 41 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֥ים | ʾelohim | [the] God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| חָֽי׃ | chai | living | H2416 → | 498 times |
הַטֵּ֨הincline
hatehH5186 →214 times
יְהוָ֤ה׀O Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אָזְנְךָ֙ear your
ʾazenekhaH241 →187 times
וּֽשֲׁמָ֔עand hear
ushama'H8085 →1159 times
פְּקַ֧חopen
pekachH6491 →20 times
יְהוָ֛הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עֵינֶ֖יךָeyes your
ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 times
וּרְאֵ֑הand see
ureehH7200 →1300 times
וּשְׁמַ֗עand hear
ushema'H8085 →1159 times
אֵ֚ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
דִּבְרֵ֣י[the] words of
divreiH1697 →1440 times
סַנְחֵרִ֔יבSennacherib
sancherivH5576 →13 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
שְׁלָח֔וֹhe has sent it
shelachoH7971 →845 times
לְחָרֵ֖ףto taunt
lecharefH2778 →41 times
אֱלֹהִ֥ים[the] God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
חָֽי׃living
chaiH2416 →498 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 31:2Incline Your ear to me; come quickly to my rescue. Be my rock of refuge, the stronghold of my deliverance.
it leads to
- Psalms 71:2–3
In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.
- Psalms 71:2–3
Through
1 Kings 8:29May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays…
it leads to
- Nehemiah 1:6
let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Chronicles 6:20
May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward…
- 2 Chronicles 7:15–16
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
- Nehemiah 1:6
Through
2 Chronicles 6:40Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 7:15
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
- Psalms 116:2
Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.
- 2 Chronicles 7:15
Through
Isaiah 37:17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 6:40
Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
- 2 Chronicles 6:40
Through
2 Kings 19:4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the…
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 16:12
Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”
- 2 Samuel 16:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 2 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Keil, The Books of the Kings; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Sahdona the Syrian, BOOK OF PERFECTION 41.