What Does 2 Kings 19:4 Mean in the King James?
It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The enemy’s reproach is heard twice: first as an insult, then as words awaiting God’s answer.
THE MEANING
When contempt or intimidation fills your hearing, its words are not the only ones being heard: the living God hears, and those left exposed remain within the prayer’s reach. The prayer brings both the threat and the remnant before God without pretending the threat is gone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A loud threat does not have the final word, and those left exposed are not beyond the reach of prayer.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמַע
yishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, heed, respond.
“hear / heard” in this verse is yishmaʿ. The verse uses this root first for the LORD hearing Rab-shakeh’s report, then for the LORD having heard its words. In this root’s range, hearing can carry the sense of heeding and responding, so the insult does not end as mere noise: it reaches a listener who can answer.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; heed and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar form shows the responsive depth carried by the verse’s repeated language of hearing.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
Rab-shakeh’s speech arrives as a report, placing the threatening words within the same hearing-word family.
וְהוֹכִיחַ
wehôkîaḥ
GROWS FROM
יכח
y-kh-ḥ
Prove, decide a matter, correct or rebuke.
“reprove” in this verse is wehôkîaḥ. The root reaches beyond scolding: it can carry the sense of proving or deciding a matter. The words the LORD has heard are presented as something to be weighed and answered, not simply as an insult that wounds and disappears.
ALSO GROWS
môkîaḥ: One who reproves or corrects.
מוֹכִיחַ
This branch carries the idea of a response that addresses what has been said.
tôḵēḥāh: Reproof, correction.
תּוֹכֵחָה
The related noun shows that the root can name the corrective answer itself.
THE PATTERN
Threatening words do not escape hearing; prayer places the afflicted and the threat before God.
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,THE THREAD
LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.This verse repeats the same Hebrew hear-root, turning the report into Hezekiah’s direct plea: hear and see what has been said. “The living God” returns too, as the threat heard in verse 4 becomes the subject of the king’s prayer.
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