2 Kings 19:10-12

19:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over¹ to the king of Assyria.” 19:11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands.² Do you really think you will be rescued?³ 19:12 Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods?⁴

2 Kings 19:22

19:22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted,⁵

and looked so arrogantly?⁶

At the Holy One of Israel!⁷

2 Kings 19:27-28

19:27 I know where you live,

and everything you do.⁸

19:28 Because you rage against me,

and the uproar you create has reached my ears;⁹

I will put my hook in your nose,¹⁰

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back the way

you came.”

¹tn Heb “will not be given.”

²tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”

³tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”

⁴tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them – Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”

⁵tn Heb “have you raised a voice.”

⁶tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?”

⁷sn This divine title pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

⁸tc Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The MT also has here, “and how you have raged against me.” However, this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line).

⁹tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךְ (sha’anankh), “your complacency,” is emended to שַׁאֲוַנְךְ (sha’avankh), “your uproar.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38.

¹⁰sn The word picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.