Isaiah 36:19
in Isaiah 36Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
KJV
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 36
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWhere are the gods of Hamath and Arphad?.... What is become of them? where are they to be found? where's their power to protect and defend the people they presided over? thus they might be justly derided, but not so the God at Israel; these places are mentioned in Isa 10:
This site's exposition
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us
on Isaiah 36:18-20
The speech reaches its theological center, Rabshakeh listing the gods of Hamath, Arphad, Sepharvaim, and Samaria one by one and asking where any of them delivered their land out of Assyria's hand, before putting the Lord in the same list, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown note that this is the argument's fatal error, Rabshakeh reasons from the defeated idols of conquered nations to the living God of Israel as though they belonged to the same category, a comparison the rest of the narrative answers directly. The blasphemy stands unanswered here because the king himself, not Rabshakeh's audience on the wall, is the one who must answer it, and the text holds that answer for the next chapter.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 19) Where is the God of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the God of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? This shows that all these gods have served Samaria, and that is why it has been captured.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language. Here his address to the people is set out. And first, his foolish words are set out, in which he frightens them with threats: he shall not be able to deliver …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The history related here, and in the three following chapters, is, almost in the same words contained 2 Kings 18, 19, 20. It is inserted here, to explain and confirm some of the foregoing predictions.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Where are the gods of Hamath ... - In regard to these places, see the notes at Isa 10:9-11. Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? - Sepharvaim was probably in Mesopotamia. Ptolemy mentions a city there of the name of Sipphara, as the most southern city of Mesopotamia, which is probably the same. It is evident that it was in the vicinity of Hamath and Arphad, and these are known to have been in Mesopotamia.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Sepharvaim--literally, "the two scribes"; now Sipphara, on the east of Euphrates, above Babylon. It was a just retribution (Pr 1:31; Israel worshipped the gods of Sepharvaim, and so colonists of Sepharvaim were planted in the land of Israel (thenceforth called Samaria) by the Assyrian conqueror (2Ki 17:24; compare 2Ki 18:34).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Where are the gods - Many MSS. add the conjunction here also: And, or But, where are the gods, etc. For other matters relative to this chapter, see the notes on 2Ki 18:13 (note), etc. Of Sepharvaim - The other copy, 2Ki 18:34, adds, of “Henah and Ivah.” Have they delivered - וכי vechi. The copulative is not expressed here by the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and three MSS.; nor is it in any other copy. Ib. Houbigant reads הכי hachi, with the interrogative particle; a probable conjecture, which the ancient Versions above quoted seem to favor.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַיֵּ֞ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֤י | ʾelohei | [were] [the] gods of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| חֲמָת֙ | chamat | Hamath | H2574 → | 35 times |
| וְאַרְפָּ֔ד | vearpad | and Arpad | H774 → | 6 times |
| אַיֵּ֖ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֣י | ʾelohei | [were] [the] gods of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| סְפַרְוָ֑יִם | sefarvayim | Sepharvaim | H5617 → | |
| וְכִֽי־ | vekhi- | and if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִצִּ֥ילוּ | hitzilu | they have delivered | H5337 → | 212 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שֹׁמְר֖וֹן | shomeron | Samaria | H8111 → | 109 times |
| מִיָּדִֽי׃ | miyadi | from hand my | H3027 → | 1618 times |
אַיֵּ֞הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
אֱלֹהֵ֤י[were] [the] gods of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
חֲמָת֙Hamath
chamatH2574 →35 times
וְאַרְפָּ֔דand Arpad
vearpadH774 →6 times
אַיֵּ֖הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
אֱלֹהֵ֣י[were] [the] gods of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
סְפַרְוָ֑יִםSepharvaim
sefarvayimH5617 →
וְכִֽי־and if
vekhi-H3588 →4482 times
הִצִּ֥ילוּthey have delivered
hitziluH5337 →212 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שֹׁמְר֖וֹןSamaria
shomeronH8111 →109 times
מִיָּדִֽי׃from hand my
miyadiH3027 →1618 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
Jeremiah 49:23Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 18:34
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 10:9
“Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
- Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.
- Genesis 14:15
During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
- Genesis 15:2
But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
- 2 Kings 18:34
Through
2 Samuel 8:9When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 8:4
He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.
- 1 Kings 8:65
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more…
- 2 Chronicles 8:4
Through
2 Kings 17:24Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in…
it leads to
- Matthew 10:5
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go onto the road of the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.
- Matthew 10:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.