and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
Parallel translations
- WEB and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.
- KJV And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
- BSB They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
- NASB and have hurled their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
- NLT And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
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
Those nations' gods were destroyed because they were not gods at all, only wood and stone made by human hands. Hezekiah distinguishes powerless idols from the living God.
Overview
Hezekiah explains that the conquered gods fell because they were mere idols, the work of men's hands. This is the theological heart of his prayer: Yahweh is the living Creator, not a man-made image. The contrast exposes the emptiness of idolatry that runs through Kings. It anticipates the biblical mockery of idols (Psalm 115; Isaiah 44) and the call to worship the true God alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Acts 17:29Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
- Jer 10:3–9For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
- Isa 44:9–20Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
- Isa 37:18–19Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,
- 2 Sam 5:21They left their images there; and David and his men took them away.
- Jer 10:14–16Every man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Isa 46:1–2Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary.
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
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 19:18 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.