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2 Kings 18:26

in 2 Kings 18

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not with us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

KJV

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab–shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

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This verse in 2 Kings 18

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Talk not with us in the Jews’ language - The object of this blasphemous caitiff was to stir up the people to sedition, that the city and the king might be delivered into his hand.

This site's exposition

to thy servants in the Syrian language

on 2 Kings 18:26-27

Eliakim asks for Syrian, the diplomatic language the officials share, so the people on the wall will not hear a threat in their own tongue, and the request itself concedes how much the speech has already landed. Rab-shakeh refuses in the coarsest terms the text records, naming the siege's own coming horror, that the men on the wall will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with the defenders, a threat aimed at the common soldiers rather than at the throne. The refusal is the turn on which the speech moves from private negotiation to public psychological warfare.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 18:19 · Written before 373.

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

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This was a reasonable request, and agreeable to the custom of treaties, which is that the plenipotentiaries should settle matters between themselves before any thing be made public; but Hilkiah did not consider what an unreasonable man he had to deal with, else he would not have made this request, for it did but exasperate Rabshakeh, and make him the more rude and boisterous,

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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 Nineteenth Century1 voice

The Syrian language - i. e., Aramaic; probably the dialect of Damascus, a Semitic language nearly akin to their own, but suffciently different to be unintelligible to ordinary Jews The people that are on the wall - The conference must have been held immediately outside the wall for the words of the speakers to have been audible.

The words behind it

26 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֶלְיָקִ֣יםEliakim

    ʾelyakimH471 →12 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • חִ֠לְקִיָּהוּHilkiah

    chilkiyahuH2518 →34 times

  • וְשֶׁבְנָ֨הand Shebna

    veshevnahH7644 →9 times

  • וְיוֹאָ֜חand Joah

    veyoachH3098 →11 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • רַב־[the] chief

    rav-H7262 →32 times

  • שָׁקֵ֗הcommander

    shakehH7262 →32 times

  • דַּבֶּר־speak

    daber-H1696 →1141 times

  • נָ֤אplease

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • עֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙servants your

    ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times

  • אֲרָמִ֔יתAramaic

    ʾaramitH762 →

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • שֹׁמְעִ֖ים[are] understanding

    shomeimH8085 →1159 times

  • אֲנָ֑חְנוּwe

    ʾanachenuH587 →120 times

  • וְאַל־and may not

    veal-H408 →724 times

  • תְּדַבֵּ֤רyou speak

    tedaberH1696 →1141 times

  • עִמָּ֙נוּ֙with us

    ʾimanuH5973 →1050 times

  • יְהוּדִ֔ית[in] Judean

    yehuditH3066 →

  • בְּאָזְנֵ֣יin [the] ears of

    beazeneiH241 →187 times

  • הָעָ֔םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֖רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • עַל־[is] on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַחֹמָֽה׃the wall

    hachomahH2346 →133 times

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

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezra 4:7And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated.7 worksDaniel 2:4Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”4 worksIsaiah 36:11–12Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”2 works2 Kings 18:37Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.2 worksEsther 8:9At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.2 worksIsaiah 22:15This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 36:21But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”2 works2 Kings 18:18Then they called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.1 works1 Corinthians 14:2For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit.1 works

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

    Daniel 2:4

    Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 36:11

      Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Daniel 3:9

      saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, may you live forever!

    • Ezra 4:7

      And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated.

    • Daniel 5:10

      Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow…

  • Through

    Ezra 4:7

    And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated.

    it leads to

    • Daniel 2:4

      Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

    • Ezra 4:9

      From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates—the judges and officials over Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa,

    • Ezra 4:17

      Then the king sent this reply: To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of your associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in the region west of the Euphrates: Greetings.

  • Through

    2 Kings 18:18

    Then they called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 19:2

      And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz

Where this verse is studied

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.
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 18 →

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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Kings 18 →