2 Kings 19:24
in 2 Kings 19I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
KJV
I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
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This verse in 2 Kings 19
Commentary
4 notes on this verseI have dipped and drunk strange waters - I have conquered strange countries, in which I have digged wells for my army; or, I have gained the wealth of strange countries. With the sole of my feet - My infantry have been so numerous that they alone have been sufficient to drink up the rivers of the places I have besieged.
This site's exposition
even against the Holy One of Israel
on 2 Kings 19:22-24
The Holy One of Israel is Isaiah's own signature title for God, used across his book far more than any other prophet uses it, and it turns Sennacherib's boasting into blasphemy aimed at a named person rather than at an abstraction. The king's own words are quoted back at him, felling the cedars of Lebanon, entering the forest of his Carmel, the same mountain where a different contest had already been settled by fire in 1 Ki 18. Assyrian royal inscriptions do record kings boasting of cutting Lebanon's cedar for building projects, so the oracle answers Sennacherib in language his own scribes actually used.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Nothing could stand before him or be withheld from him; no hills too high for him to climb, no trees too strong for him to fell, no waters too deep for him to dry up; as if he had the power of a God, to speak and it is done. (2.) He took to himself the glory of doing these great things, whereas they were all the Lord's doing,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Have digged and drunk ... and dried up - The meaning seems to be - “Mountains do not stop me - I cross them even in my chariots. Deserts do not stop me - I dig wells there, and drink the water. Rivers do not stop me - I pass them as easily as if they were dry land.” The rivers of besieged places - Rather, “the rivers of Egypt.” The singular form, Mazor (compare the modern Misr and the Assyrian Muzr), is here used instead of the ordinary dual form, Mizraim, perhaps because “Lower Egypt” only is intended. This was so cut up with canals and branches of the Nile, natural and artificial, that it was regarded as impassable for chariots and horses. Sennacherib, however, thought that these many streams would prove no impediments to him; he would advance as fast as if they were “dried up.”
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲנִ֣י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| קַ֔רְתִּי | karti | I have dug | H6979 → | |
| וְשָׁתִ֖יתִי | veshatiti | and I have drunk | H8354 → | 217 times |
| מַ֣יִם | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| זָרִ֑ים | zarim | strange | H2114 → | |
| וְאַחְרִב֙ | veachriv | so I may dry up | H2717 → | 40 times |
| בְּכַף־ | bekhaf- | with [the] sole of | H3709 → | 192 times |
| פְּעָמַ֔י | peamai | feet my | H6471 → | 118 times |
| כֹּ֖ל | kol | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יְאֹרֵ֥י | yeorei | [the] canals of | H2975 → | |
| מָצֽוֹר׃ | matzor | Egypt | H4693 → |
אֲנִ֣יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
קַ֔רְתִּיI have dug
kartiH6979 →
וְשָׁתִ֖יתִיand I have drunk
veshatitiH8354 →217 times
מַ֣יִםwater
mayimH4325 →581 times
זָרִ֑יםstrange
zarimH2114 →
וְאַחְרִב֙so I may dry up
veachrivH2717 →40 times
בְּכַף־with [the] sole of
bekhaf-H3709 →192 times
פְּעָמַ֔יfeet my
peamaiH6471 →118 times
כֹּ֖לall
kolH3605 →5413 times
יְאֹרֵ֥י[the] canals of
yeoreiH2975 →
מָצֽוֹר׃Egypt
matzorH4693 →
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
Daniel 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Luke 14:11
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Ezekiel 29:3
Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says,…
- Proverbs 16:18
Through
Exodus 15:9The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
it leads to
- Judges 5:30
‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’
- Exodus 14:5
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”
- Isaiah 53:12
Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the…
- Judges 5:30
Through
1 Kings 20:10Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”
it leads to
- 1 Kings 19:2
So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those…
- 1 Kings 19:2
Through
Isaiah 19:6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.
it leads to
- Isaiah 37:25
I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
- Isaiah 37:25
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 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.