Hezekiah’s Prayer of Surrender
2 Kings 19:14-19
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2 K.19.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויקח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- חזקיהו: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- הספרים: NOUN,m,pl,det
- מיד: PREP
- המלאכים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ויקראם: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ויעל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויפרשהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- חזקיהו: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- לפני: PREP
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 37:14 (quotation): Isaiah recounts the same episode with essentially the same wording: Hezekiah takes the Assyrian letter, reads it, and spreads it before the LORD.
- 2 Kings 19:15 (structural): Immediate continuation of the episode in Kings: after placing the letter before God Hezekiah offers the prayer that follows (shows the narrative function of 19:14 as the precursor to petition).
- Daniel 9:2-3 (thematic): Daniel reads a written oracle (Jeremiah’s prophecy) and in response turns to intense prayer and supplication—parallel pattern of reading a text and bringing the matter before God.
- 1 Kings 8:22 (thematic): Solomon stands before the LORD and 'spreads forth his hands' in prayer at the temple—comparable cultic posture and the act of presenting concerns into God’s presence.
Alternative generated candidates
- Hezekiah took the letters from the hands of the messengers and read them. Then he went up to the house of the LORD and spread them out before the LORD.
- Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers, read them, and went up to the house of the LORD; and he spread them before the LORD.
2 K.19.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויתפלל: VERB,hitpael,imperfect,3,m,sg
- חזקיהו: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- לפני: PREP
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- הכרבים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- האלהים: NOUN,m,sg,def
- לבדך: ADV,2,m,sg
- לכל: PREP
- ממלכות: NOUN,f,pl,cs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- עשית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- השמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ואת: CONJ
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Isaiah 37:16 (quotation): Nearly identical wording: Isaiah preserves Hezekiah’s prayer almost verbatim, invoking the LORD who dwells between the cherubim and who alone is God, creator of heaven and earth.
- Exodus 25:18-22 (allusion): Describes the cherubim on the mercy‑seat and God’s presence 'between the cherubim'—the background for Hezekiah’s appeal to the LORD who dwells between the cherubim.
- Deuteronomy 4:39 (thematic): Affirms Yahweh as the one true God of heaven and earth ('know therefore this day... that the LORD he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath'), echoing Hezekiah’s claim of God’s sole sovereignty.
- Psalm 146:6 (thematic): Praise language attributing creation of heaven and earth to Yahweh ('Who made heaven and earth...'), paralleling Hezekiah’s confession 'you have made the heavens and the earth.'
- 2 Chronicles 32:20-21 (structural): Parallel account of the Assyrian crisis and divine deliverance in Hezekiah’s reign; provides the same historical setting for the prayer and its outcome.
Alternative generated candidates
- Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim— you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth; you made the heavens and the earth.
- Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you made the heavens and the earth."
2 K.19.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הטה: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אזנך: NOUN,f,sg,abs,2,m,sg
- ושמע: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- פקח: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- עיניך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+2ms
- וראה: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- ושמע: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- דברי: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,1,c,sg
- סנחריב: NOUN_PROP,m,sg,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- שלחו: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,pl
- לחרף: INFN,qal,inf
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- חי: ADJ,m,sg
Parallels
- Isa.37:17 (quotation): Nearly identical wording — Isaiah 37 repeats Hezekiah’s prayer against Sennacherib: 'Incline, O LORD, thine ear... open, O LORD, thine eyes... hear the words of Sennacherib.'
- 2 Chr.32:20–21 (structural): Chronicles retells the Sennacherib episode and its outcome, paralleling the narrative context of Hezekiah’s prayer in 2 Kings 19.
- Ps.86:1 (verbal): Uses the same petition-imagery ('Bow down thine ear' / 'Incline thine ear') — a verbal parallel in appeals for God to hear the petitioner.
- Ps.80:14–15 (thematic): Plea for God to 'look down... behold' and intervene for his people echoes the request 'open, O LORD, thine eyes, and see' in 2 Kings 19:16.
Alternative generated candidates
- Incline, O LORD, your ear and hear; open, O LORD, your eyes and see; hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to revile the living God.
- "Incline, O LORD, your ear, and hear; open, O LORD, your eyes, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib which they have sent to revile the living God."
2 K.19.17 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אמנם: PART
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- החריבו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- מלכי: NOUN,pl,m,cons
- אשור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- הגוים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ואת: CONJ
- ארצם: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 37:17 (quotation): Direct parallel in Isaiah's account of Hezekiah's prayer—repeats the statement about Assyrian kings destroying nations and their lands.
- 2 Chronicles 32:17 (verbal): Chronicles' retelling of the same Sennacherib-Hezekiah episode repeats the motif of Assyrian kings laying waste to nations and territories.
- Isaiah 10:5-6 (thematic): Portrays Assyria as the instrument of God’s wrath sent to devastate peoples and territories—explains why Assyrian kings destroy nations.
- Habakkuk 1:6-9 (thematic): Describes a foreign, devastating power that marches across the earth and seizes nations—parallels the theme of imperial destruction of peoples and lands.
- Nahum 3:7 (thematic): Proclaims the judgment and ruin of Nineveh and depicts the fate of an empire that once devastated other nations—echoes the consequences and reality of Assyrian destruction.
Alternative generated candidates
- Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands.
- "Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands."
2 K.19.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ונתנו: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- את: PRT,acc
- אלהיהם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+3mp
- באש: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- המה: PRON,3,m,pl
- כי: CONJ
- אם: CONJ
- מעשה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ידי: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- אדם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואבן: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ויאבדום: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg,+obj:3,m,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 44:9-20 (verbal): A sustained polemic against idols as craftsman's work of wood and stone, useless and made by human hands—language and imagery closely parallel to 2 Kings 19:18.
- Psalm 115:4-8 (thematic): Declares that idols are made by human hands, have mouths but cannot speak or save—echoes the impotence of wooden and stone gods in 2 Kings 19:18.
- Jeremiah 10:3-5 (verbal): Mocks the customs of idol makers, describing idols as wooden objects carried about and powerless—similar critique of man-made gods in 2 Kings 19:18.
- Deuteronomy 4:28 (structural): Warns Israel they will serve gods of wood and stone when exiled—connects to the motif that idols are merely 'the work of men's hands' and hence perish.
Alternative generated candidates
- They have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods but the work of men's hands—wood and stone—and they were destroyed.
- "They have given their gods into the fire, for they are no gods but the work of men's hands—wood and stone—and so they were overthrown."
2 K.19.19 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ועתה: CONJ
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהינו: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss:1,pl
- הושיענו: VERB,hiph,imp,2,m,sg
- נא: PART
- מידו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- וידעו: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,pl
- כל: DET
- ממלכות: NOUN,f,pl,cs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- כי: CONJ
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לבדך: ADV,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 37:20 (quotation): Nearly identical prayer in Isaiah's parallel account of Hezekiah's plea: asking God to save them so that all kingdoms may know that the LORD alone is God.
- 1 Kings 8:60 (verbal): Solomon's prayer uses the same idea and wording—that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other—echoing the petition's purpose.
- 2 Chronicles 32:20-21 (structural): Chronicler's retelling of the Assyrian crisis and divine deliverance emphasizes the same outcome: God's intervention so nations recognize Yahweh's sovereignty.
- Exodus 9:16 (thematic): God declares He raised up Pharaoh 'that I might show my power and that my name might be declared in all the earth'—a parallel purpose of acts of deliverance to make God known among the nations.
- Psalm 86:10 (verbal): Confessional statement 'you alone are God' parallels the verse's assertion that Yahweh is the one true God, the theological kernel motivating the prayer for vindication.
Alternative generated candidates
- Now, O LORD our God, save us, I pray, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.
- "Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, we pray, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."
Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers and read them; then he went up to the house of the LORD and spread them before the LORD.
Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth; you made the heavens and the earth.
Incline, O LORD, your ear, and hear; open, O LORD, your eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib that they have sent to revile the living God.
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands.
They have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods but the work of men's hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed.
Now, O LORD our God, save us, we pray, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God.