So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh.
- KJV And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
- NKJV And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
- NASB Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
- NLT After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hezekiah received the letter, read it, went to the LORD's house, and spread it out before God. He brings the threat directly to God in prayer.
Overview
Rather than despairing, Hezekiah takes the blasphemous letter into the temple and lays it before the LORD. This act of faith dramatizes that the matter belongs to God to answer. It models how believers may bring their burdens and the threats against them to God in prayer. The gesture sets the stage for one of Scripture's great prayers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 37:14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
- Ps 123:1–4A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
- Ps 91:1–2He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
- 1 Kgs 8:28–30Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.
- Ps 74:10–11How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
- Ezra 9:5At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 19:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.