2 Kings 20:18
in 2 Kings 20And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
KJV
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
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This verse in 2 Kings 20
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThey shall be eunuchs - Perhaps this means no more than that they should become household servants to the kings of Babylon. See the fulfillment, 2Ki 24:13-15, and Dan 1:1-3.
This site's exposition
Hear the word of the Lord
on 2 Kings 20:16-18
Hear the word of the Lord opens the sentence, and it falls in the plainest terms: all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up, shall be carried into Babylon, nothing left, and Hezekiah's own sons taken to serve as eunuchs in a Babylonian palace. The judgment answers the display of this chapter rather than causing the exile outright; the bench reads Manasseh's later idolatry as the deeper cause, this word standing as a first, plain naming of where the road already led. Babylon has appeared in this book before as a source of colonists for Samaria at 17:24; here for the first time in Kings it is named as the destroyer Judah's own treasures will travel to.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Ambrose of MilanOn Jacob and the Blessed Life, Book 1, Chapter 8.36 · Written before 397.
Surely the just Hezekiah did not rejoice that the disaster of the captivity had fallen on his children, but he could not oppose the will of the Lord, and so he received the Lord's commands with patience like a humble servant. Thus it happens that one could judge that merit and virtue could be evident even in captivity. For Jeremiah was not less happy in captivity, nor was Daniel, nor Ezra, nor were Ananias and Azariah and Misael less happy than if they had not fallen into captivity.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Not that it was for this sin that that judgment should be brought upon them: the sins of Manasseh, his idolatries and murders, were the cause of that calamity; but it is now foretold to Hezekiah, to convince him of the folly of his pride and of the value he had for the king of Babylon, and to make him ashamed of it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
But, after the destruction of Sennacherib, presents were brought him from various quarters, out of respect to a king who, by his faith and prayer, saved his country; and besides, it is by no means improbable that from the corpses in the Assyrian camp, all the gold and silver he had paid might be recovered.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This prophecy had two fulfillments, each complementary to the other. Manasseh, Hezekiah’s actual son, was “carried to Babylon” 2Ch 33:11, but did not become a eunuch in the palace. Daniel and others, not his actual sons, but of the royal seed Dan 1:3, and therefore Hezekiah’s descendants, are thought by some to have literally fulfilled the latter part of the prophecy, being eunuchs in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמִבָּנֶ֜יךָ | umibaneikha | and some of descendants your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֨ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יֵצְא֧וּ | yetzeu | they will come forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מִמְּךָ֛ | mimekha | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| תּוֹלִ֖יד | tolid | you will father | H3205 → | 496 times |
| יִקָּ֑חוּ | yikach | people will take away | H3947 → | 966 times |
| וְהָיוּ֙ | vehayu | and they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| סָֽרִיסִ֔ים | sarisim | eunuchs | H5631 → | 42 times |
| בְּהֵיכַ֖ל | beheikhal | in [the] palace of | H1964 → | 80 times |
| מֶ֥לֶךְ | melekh | [the] king of | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| בָּבֶֽל׃ | bavel | Babylon | H894 → | 262 times |
וּמִבָּנֶ֜יךָand some of descendants your
umibaneikhaH1121 →4930 times
אֲשֶׁ֨רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יֵצְא֧וּthey will come forth
yetzeuH3318 →1067 times
מִמְּךָ֛from you
mimekhaH4480 →1188 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
תּוֹלִ֖ידyou will father
tolidH3205 →496 times
יִקָּ֑חוּpeople will take away
yikachH3947 →966 times
וְהָיוּ֙and they will be
vehayuH1961 →3559 times
סָֽרִיסִ֔יםeunuchs
sarisimH5631 →42 times
בְּהֵיכַ֖לin [the] palace of
beheikhalH1964 →80 times
מֶ֥לֶךְ[the] king of
melekhH4428 →2525 times
בָּבֶֽל׃Babylon
bavelH894 →262 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
Daniel 1:3Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials, to bring in some Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—
it leads to
- Isaiah 39:7
And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
- 2 Kings 20:17–18
The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
- Isaiah 39:7
Through
2 Chronicles 33:11So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:36
The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.
- Deuteronomy 28:36
Through
2 Kings 24:12Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 24:1
After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to…
- Jeremiah 52:28
These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
- 2 Chronicles 36:10
In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and…
- 2 Kings 25:27
On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from…
- Jeremiah 24:1
Through
2 Kings 25:6The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 23:33
And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and…
- 2 Kings 23:33
Where this verse is studied
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); Ambrose of Milan, On Jacob and the Blessed Life, Book 1, Chapter 8.36; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.