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2 Kings 16:7

in 2 Kings 16

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.

KJV

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath–pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.

This verse in 2 Kings 16

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Ahaz was threatened on all sides, on the north by Rezin and Pekah; on the southeast by Edom 2Ch 28:17; and on the southwest by the Philistines 2Ch 28:18. To these external dangers was added the still greater peril of disaffection at home. A large party in Judah was “weary” of the house of David Isa 7:13, ready to join the confederacy Isa 8:6, Isa 8:12, and to accept for king “the son of Tabeal.” Ahaz saw no hope of safety unless he could obtain a powerful protector; and, Egypt being particularly weak at this time, he turned to Assyria.

This site's exposition

I am thy servant and thy son

on 2 Kings 16:7-9

Ahaz answers the siege by making himself a vassal in words lifted from covenant language, I am thy servant and thy son, offered to Tiglath-pileser rather than to the Lord who had just proved willing to save Jerusalem without him. He funds the appeal by stripping the silver and gold from the house of the Lord and his own treasury, the same expedient Asa used against Baasha at 1 Ki 15:18. Assyria answers by taking Damascus and killing Rezin, and Judah's short-term rescue becomes the debt that shapes the rest of the chapter.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): I am thy servant and thy son, that is, "I will be as dutiful and obedient to thee as to a master or father, if thou wilt but do me this good turn." Had he thus humbled himself to God, and implored his favour, he might have been delivered upon easier terms; he might have saved his money, and needed only to have parted with his sins.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

8:4), that the confederate kings would not prevail against him, Ahaz sought aid from the Assyrian monarch, to purchase which he sent the treasures of the palace and temple. Tiglath-pileser marched against Damascus, slew Rezin the king, and carried the people of Damascus into captivity to Kir, which is thought to have been the city Karine (now Kerend), in Media.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

I am thy servant and thy son - I will obey thee in all, and become tributary to thee; only help me against Syria and Israel.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֨חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971845 times

  • אָחָ֜זAhaz

    ʾachazH27142 times

  • מַלְאָכִ֗יםmessengers

    malakhimH4397213 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • תִּ֠גְלַתTiglath-

    tiglatH840712 times

  • פְּלֶ֤סֶרpileser

    peleserH840712 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H44282525 times

  • אַשּׁוּר֙Assyria

    ʾashurH804151 times

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

  • עַבְדְּךָ֥[am] servant your

    ʾavdekhaH5650799 times

  • וּבִנְךָ֖and son your

    uvinkhaH11214930 times

  • אָ֑נִיI

    ʾaniH589874 times

  • עֲלֵ֨הcome up

    ʾalehH5927890 times

  • וְהוֹשִׁעֵ֜נִיand deliver me

    vehoshieniH3467206 times

  • מִכַּ֣ףfrom [the] hand of

    mikafH3709192 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H44282525 times

  • אֲרָ֗םAram

    ʾaramH758143 times

  • וּמִכַּף֙and from [the] hand of

    umikafH3709192 times

  • מֶ֣לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH44282525 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • הַקּוֹמִ֖יםwho are rising up

    hakomimH6965628 times

  • עָלָֽי׃on me

    ʾalaiH59215755 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    2 Kings 15:29

    In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people…

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 5:26

      So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria) to take the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. And…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Kings 17:6

      In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the…

    • 1 Kings 15:20

      And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and the whole land of Naphtali, including the region of Chinnereth.

    • Joshua 20:7

      So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

    • 2 Samuel 20:14–15

      Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel-beth-maacah and through the entire region of the Berites, who gathered together and followed him.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 28:20

    Then Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz but afflicted him rather than strengthening him.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 15:29

      In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people…

    • Isaiah 30:16

      “No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.

  • Through

    1 Kings 20:4

    And the king of Israel replied, “Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 13:6–7

      Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.