I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
- KJV I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
- NKJV I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.’
- NASB ‘I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the canals of Egypt.’
- NLT I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot, I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
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
Sennacherib boasts that he dug wells and dried up Egypt's rivers with his feet. His self-exaltation claims power even over nature.
Overview
Continuing the quoted boast, the king credits himself with feats that border on claiming divine control of the waters. Such language reveals a heart that has forgotten its creaturely limits. The Lord will answer this pride by revealing that even Assyria's conquests were granted by him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- 1 Kgs 20:10Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”
- Deut 11:10For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.
- 2 Kgs 19:23–24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
- Isa 36:12But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 37:25 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.