Isaiah 37:15
in Isaiah 37And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Hezekiah prayed unto Jehovah, saying,
KJV
And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
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This verse in Isaiah 37
Commentary
4 notes on this verseUnto the Lord “Before Jehovah” - That is, in the sanctuary. For אל el, the Syriac, Chaldee, and the other copy, 2Ki 19:15, read לפני liphney, “before the face.”
This site's exposition
spread it before the Lord
on Isaiah 37:14-15
Hezekiah takes the letter itself into the temple and spreads it before the Lord, an act the older writers read as a king laying the enemy's own words down as evidence for God to answer. Henry calls it prayer by object as much as by word, the accusation held open where the God it insults can read it for himself. The gesture answers the request the servants had carried to Isaiah at verse 4 with the king's own body in the temple rather than a message sent through another.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 14ff.) And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and he read them, and he went up to the house of the Lord, and he spread them out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, saying: Lord, God of hosts, God of Israel, who resides above the cherubim, you are the only God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he sent to blaspheme the living God.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying. He did not return railing for railing, but committed himself and his cause to him that judgeth righteously; he did not write an answer to the letter himself, but lays it before the Lord, and prays him to answer it, who was most principally reflected on in it.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל֙ | vaiyitpalel | and he prayed | H6419 → | 84 times |
| חִזְקִיָּ֔הוּ | chizkiyahu | Hezekiah | H2396 → | 127 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לֵאמֹֽר׃ | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל֙and he prayed
vaiyitpalelH6419 →84 times
חִזְקִיָּ֔הוּHezekiah
chizkiyahuH2396 →127 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לֵאמֹֽר׃<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.