2 Kings 18:25
in 2 Kings 18So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
KJV
Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
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This verse in 2 Kings 18
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAm I now come up without the Lord - As Rab-shakeh saw that the Jews placed the utmost confidence in God, he wished to persuade them that by Hezekiah’s conduct Jehovah had departed from them, and was become ally to the king of Assyria, and therefore they could not expect any help from that quarter.
This site's exposition
Am I now come up without
Am I now come up without the Lord is the speech's boldest claim, an Assyrian officer asserting that his own king marches by the God of Israel's own commission. Isaiah 10:5 gives the same claim from the other side of the war, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, so Rab-shakeh's boast and Isaiah's oracle agree that Assyria is an instrument even while Isaiah goes on to judge the instrument for its pride. The claim is left standing in this chapter without correction, and correction comes from Isaiah's book rather than from any voice on this page.
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 Awakening3 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
): Have I now come up without the Lord? This is all banter and rhodomontade. He did not himself think he had any commission from God to do what he did (by whom should he have it?) but he made this pretence to amuse and terrify the people that were on the wall.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Rab-shakeh probably tries the effect of a bold assertion, which had no basis of fact to rest upon.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַתָּה֙ | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| הֲמִבַּלְעֲדֵ֣י | hamibaladei | ¿ from without | H1107 → | |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עָלִ֛יתִי | ʾaliti | have I come up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַמָּק֥וֹם | hamakom | the place | H4725 → | 401 times |
| הַזֶּ֖ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| לְהַשְׁחִת֑וֹ | lehashchito | to destroy it | H7843 → | 146 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלַ֔י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עֲלֵ֛ה | ʾaleh | go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאָ֥רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הַזֹּ֖את | hazot | <the> this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| וְהַשְׁחִיתָֽהּ׃ | vehashchitah | and destroy it | H7843 → | 146 times |
עַתָּה֙now
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
הֲמִבַּלְעֲדֵ֣י¿ from without
hamibaladeiH1107 →
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עָלִ֛יתִיhave I come up
ʾalitiH5927 →890 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַמָּק֥וֹםthe place
hamakomH4725 →401 times
הַזֶּ֖ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
לְהַשְׁחִת֑וֹto destroy it
lehashchitoH7843 →146 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אָמַ֣רhe said
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֵלַ֔יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
עֲלֵ֛הgo up
ʾalehH5927 →890 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאָ֥רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
הַזֹּ֖את<the> this
hazotH2063 →603 times
וְהַשְׁחִיתָֽהּ׃and destroy it
vehashchitahH7843 →146 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
Amos 3:6If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
it leads to
- Isaiah 45:7
I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Isaiah 14:24–27
The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Zephaniah 1:16
a day of horn blast and battle cry against the fortified cities, and against the high corner towers.
- 2 Corinthians 5:11
Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.
- Genesis 50:20
As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
- Isaiah 45:7
Through
2 Kings 19:6who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 18:17
Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by…
- Isaiah 37:6–38
who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
- 2 Kings 18:35
Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
- 2 Kings 18:17
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.