2 Kings 19:1
in 2 Kings 19On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.
KJV
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
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This verse in 2 Kings 19
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Hezekiah, like his officers, probably rent his clothes on account of Rab-shakeh’s blasphemies: and he put on sackcloth in self-humiliation and in grief. The only hope left was in Yahweh, for Egypt could not be trusted to effect anything of importance. Rab-shakeh’s boldness had told upon Hezekiah. He was dispirited and dejected. He perhaps began to doubt whether he had done right in yielding to the bolder counsels of Eliakim and Isaiah. He had not lost his faith in God; but his faith was being severely tried. He wisely went and strove by prayer to strengthen it.
This site's exposition
rent his clothes, and covered himself
on 2 Kings 19:1-3
Hezekiah's answer to Rabshakeh's blasphemy is torn clothes, sackcloth, and the house of the Lord rather than a council of war. He sends Eliakim, Shebna and the elders of the priests, themselves covered in sackcloth, to Isaiah instead of answering Sennacherib himself. His message names the crisis in the image of a birth with no strength left to finish it, a king admitting that the nation cannot deliver itself.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it,.... The report of Rabshakeh's speech, recorded in the preceding chapter: that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth; rent his clothes because of the blasphemy in the speech; and he put on sackcloth, in token of mourning, for the calamities he feared were coming on him and his people: and he went into the house of the Lord; the temple, to pray unto him.
Royal robes are not too good to be rent, nor royal flesh too good to be clothed with sackcloth, in humiliation for indignities done to God and for the perils and terrors of his Jerusalem. To this God now called, and was displeased with those who were not thus affected.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The expression in which the message was conveyed described, by a strong figure, the desperate condition of the kingdom, together with their own inability to help themselves; and it intimated also a hope, that the blasphemous defiance of Jehovah's power by the impious Assyrian might lead to some direct interposition for the vindication of His honor and supremacy to all heathen gods.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֗י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כִּשְׁמֹ֙עַ֙ | kishmoa' | when heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| חִזְקִיָּ֔הוּ | chizkiyahu | Hezekiah | H2396 → | 127 times |
| וַיִּקְרַ֖ע | vaiyikra' | and he tore | H7167 → | 63 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּגָדָ֑יו | begadav | clothes his | H899 → | 217 times |
| וַיִּתְכַּ֣ס | vaiyitkas | and he covered himself | H3680 → | |
| בַּשָּׂ֔ק | basak | with <the> sackcloth | H8242 → | 49 times |
| וַיָּבֹ֖א | vaiyavo' | and he went | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וַיְהִ֗יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
כִּשְׁמֹ֙עַ֙when heard
kishmoa'H8085 →1159 times
הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
חִזְקִיָּ֔הוּHezekiah
chizkiyahuH2396 →127 times
וַיִּקְרַ֖עand he tore
vaiyikra'H7167 →63 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּגָדָ֑יוclothes his
begadavH899 →217 times
וַיִּתְכַּ֣סand he covered himself
vaiyitkasH3680 →
בַּשָּׂ֔קwith <the> sackcloth
basakH8242 →49 times
וַיָּבֹ֖אand he went
vaiyavo'H935 →2568 times
בֵּ֥ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
1 Kings 21:27When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 3:31
Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 6:30
When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.
- Genesis 37:34
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
- Joel 1:13
Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the…
- Job 16:15
I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.
- 2 Samuel 3:31
Through
Genesis 37:34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
it leads to
- Genesis 37:29
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,
- Nehemiah 9:1
On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.
- Genesis 37:29
Through
2 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.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 22:19
because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse,…
- 2 Kings 22:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 2 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.