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2 Kings 18:37

in 2 Kings 18

Then 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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

KJV

Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab–shakeh.

This verse in 2 Kings 18

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Then came Eliakim - and Shebna - and Joah - to Hezekiah with their clothes rent - It was the custom of the Hebrews, when they heard any blasphemy, to rend their clothes, because this was the greatest of crimes, as it immediately affected the majesty of God, and it was right that a religious people should have in the utmost abhorrence every insult offered to the object of their religious worship. These three ambassadors lay the matter before the king as God’s representative; he lays it before the prophet, as God’s minister; and the prophet lays it before God, as the people’s mediator.

This site's exposition

held their peace, and answered

on 2 Kings 18:36-37

The king's own command, answer him not, holds the people silent under a speech built to provoke exactly that kind of answer, and the silence is obedience rather than defeat. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah return to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, the ordinary sign of grief and dismay used across the book of Kings for news too heavy for words. The chapter ends without Hezekiah's reply; 2 Kings 19 opens with what he does instead, spreading the matter before the Lord in the temple he had just stripped to pay Assyria's price.

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 Awakening1 voice

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 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.

  • וַיָּבֹ֣אand he went

    vaiyavo'H9352568 times

  • אֶלְיָקִ֣יםEliakim

    ʾelyakimH47112 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • חִלְקִיָּ֣הHilkiah

    chilkiyahH251834 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־who

    ʾasher-H8345497 times

  • עַל־[was] over

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • הַ֠בַּיִתthe house

    habayitH10042046 times

  • וְשֶׁבְנָ֨אand Shebna

    veshevna'H76449 times

  • הַסֹּפֵ֜רthe scribe

    hasoferH5608159 times

  • וְיוֹאָ֨חand Joah

    veyoachH309811 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • אָסָ֧ףAsaph

    ʾasafH623

  • הַמַּזְכִּ֛ירthe recorder

    hamazkirH2142230 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • חִזְקִיָּ֖הוּHezekiah

    chizkiyahuH2396127 times

  • קְרוּעֵ֣יtorn of

    kerueiH716763 times

  • בְגָדִ֑יםclothes

    vegadimH899217 times

  • וַיַּגִּ֣דוּand they told

    vaiyagiduH5046370 times

  • ל֔וֹto him

    lo

  • דִּבְרֵ֖י[the] words of

    divreiH16971440 times

  • רַב־[the] chief

    rav-H726232 times

  • שָׁקֵֽה׃commander

    shakehH726232 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 5:7

    When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see…

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 2:6

      The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

    • 1 Kings 20:7

      Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, “Please take note and see that this man is looking for trouble, for when he demanded my wives, my children,…

    • Genesis 30:2

      Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

    • Deuteronomy 32:39

      See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…

  • Through

    Isaiah 33:7

    Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

    it leads to

    • 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.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    2 Kings 18:26

    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…

    it leads to

    • 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.

  • Through

    2 Kings 22:11

    When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes

    it leads to

    • Joel 2:13

      So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

    • 2 Chronicles 34:19

      When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes

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.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 18:19; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.