They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
Parallel Translations
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They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
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And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
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And they said unto him: 'Thus saith Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 19:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to be delivered?” says Yahweh. “Shall I who cause to give birth shut the womb?” says your God.
- Jeremiah 30:5-7 For Yahweh says: “We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it.
- Isaiah 26:17-18 Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before you, Yahweh. We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
- Hosea 13:13 The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb.
- Hebrews 3:15-16 while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
- 2 Kings 18:29 The king says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand.
- Psalms 39:11 When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.”
- Psalms 95:8 Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
- Psalms 123:3-4 Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.
- Hosea 5:15–6:1 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.” “Come! Let’s return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The dangers are so great, that we can neither…
The dangers are so great, that we can neither avenge this blasphemy, nor help ourselves no more than a woman in her travail.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 19:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith…
2Ki 19:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth.
Ver. 3. For the children are come to the birth.] We are greatly pained and perplexed, our hearts do even ache and quake within us, at the hearing of these horrid blasphemies; but we want strength to punish them: we humbly put them into God’s holy hands, and beseech him to take an order with them, for which end thy prayers are requested. Or, We are now in extreme danger, and do therefore earnestly implore Heaven’s help at a dead lift.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A day of trouble and of rebuke; either,
A day of trouble and of rebuke; either,
1. From God, wherein God rebukes and chastens us sorely. Or rather,
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2. From the Assyrian, who reviles and reproacheth us; for his business here is to complain, not of God, but of the Assyrian. We are like a poor travailing woman in great extremity, and having no strength left to help herself, and to bring forth her infant into the world. We have attempted to deliver ourselves from the Assyrian yoke; and had carried on that work to some maturity, and, as we thought, brought it to the birth; but now we have no might to finish, unless thou assist us. We have begun a happy reformation, and are hindered by this insolent Assyrian from bringing it to perfection. See 2Ch 32:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The children - We are like a poor travailing…
The children - We are like a poor travailing woman in great extremity, having no strength left to help herself, and to bring forth her infant into the world. We have attempted to deliver ourselves from the Assyrian yoke; and had carried on that work to some maturity, and as we thought, brought it to the birth; but now we have no might to finish. We have begun an happy reformation, and are hindered by this insolent Assyrian, from bringing it to perfection.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. The children are come to the birth]…
Verse 3. The children are come to the birth] The Jewish state is here represented under the emblem of a woman in travail, who has been so long in the pangs of parturition, that her strength is now entirely exhausted, and her deliverance is hopeless, without a miracle. The image is very fine and highly appropriate.
A similar image is employed by Homer, when he represents the agonies which Agamemnon suffers from his wound: -
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Οφρα οἱ αἱμ' ετι θερμον ανηνοθεν εξ ωτειλης·
Λυταρ επει το μεν ἑλκος ετερσετο παυσατο δ' αἱμα,
Οξειαι οδυναι δυνον μενος Ατρειδαο·
Ως δ' ὁταν ωδινουσαν εχῃ βελος οξυ γυναικα,
Δριμυ, το τε προΐεισι μογοστοκοι Ειλειθυιαι
Ἡρης θυγατερες πικ ρας ωδινας εχουσαι·
Ὡς οξει' οδυναι δυνον μενος Ατρειδαο.
Il. xi., ver. 266.
This, while yet warm, distill'd the purple flood;
But when the wound grew stiff with clotted blood,
Then grinding tortures his strong bosom rend.
Less keen those darts the fierce Ilythiae send,
The powers that cause the teeming matron's throes,
Sad mothers of unutterable woes.
POPE.
Better translated by Macpherson; but in neither well: "So long as from the gaping wound gushed forth, in its warmth, the blood; but when the wound became dry, when ceased the blood to flow amain, sharp pains pervade the strength of Atrides. Racking pangs glide through his frame; as when the Ilythiae, who preside over births, the daughters of white armed Juno, fierce dealers of bitter pains, throw all their darts on hapless women, that travail with child. Such pains pervade the strength of Atrides."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 19:3. This is a day of rebuke and…
2Ki 19:3. This is a day of rebuke and blasphemy — From the Assyrian, who reviles and reproaches us. For the children, &c. — We are like a poor travailing woman in great extremity, having no strength left to help herself, and to bring forth her infant into the world. We have attempted to deliver ourselves from the Assyrian yoke, and carried on that work to some maturity, and, as we thought, brought it to the birth; but now we have no might to finish. We have begun a happy reformation, and are hindered by this insolent Assyrian from bringing it to perfection.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The “trouble” consisted in rebuke” (rather, “chastisement,”) for sins…
The “trouble” consisted in rebuke” (rather, “chastisement,”) for sins at the hand of God, and “blasphemy” (rather, “reproach,”) at the hands of man.
The children ... - i. e., “we are in a fearful extremity - at the last gasp - and lack the strength that might carry us through the danger.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Blasphemy. The enemy insults over us (Calmet) and over…
Blasphemy. The enemy insults over us (Calmet) and over God. (Haydock) --- Birth. Hebrew, "the mouth of the womb." (Vatable) --- This comparison shews the utmost distress to which the people of Jerusalem were reduced. Any great anguish is denoted by a woman in travail, Deuteronomy ii. 25., and Psalm xlvii. 7. Homer (Iliad A) thus describes the uneasiness of Agamemnon. (Calmet) --- Ezechias found himself unable to contend with the Assyrian, though he wished to do it. (Menochius) --- Without courage, all hope of escaping is lost. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. A day of trouble — Better, a day…
3. A day of trouble — Better, a day of anguish, or, of deep distress.
Rebuke — Hezekiah recognised in his affliction a Divine reproval and chastisement.
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Blasphemy — A reference to the contempt with which Rab-shakeh had treated the God of Israel; a day when such blasphemy abounds, or goes unpunished. Others render נאצהrejection, or disdain, and understand it of contemptuous treatment and rejection of Judah on the part of God. The word is capable of either sense.
Not strength to bring forth — “The proverb is taken from the crisis in childbearing, where the child is in the midst of the birth, but the strength of the mother fails on account of the continuous pains, so that she and the child are both in danger. Clericus, therefore, interprets it of the situation of those in great peril, who know what they must do in order to escape, but who feel that it is beyond their power to take the necessary measures, and who fear that, if they should make the attempt, all would be lost.” — Bahr.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. This day is a day of trouble, and…
3. This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy] R.V. contumely. The words refer to the condition of Hezekiah and his people. First they are in great anguish, kept in and surrounded by a threatening and mighty enemy, this is the trouble: then they are reminded of their offences and feel that for their wrong they are under chastisement and reproof: and lastly, that they are given over to the adversaries so that their enemies mock at their confidence with insolent derision. Hence without help from God, and with no hope from men, their conceptions of freedom and liberty were likely all to prove abortive, and come to no result. The figure which the king employs indicates that they were in the extremest danger, and had no power to save themselves.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Rebuke.—Rather, chastisement (Hos_5:9). The verb means to give…
(3) Rebuke.—Rather, chastisement (Hos_5:9). The verb means to give judgment, punish, &c. It occurs in the next verse, “will reprove the words,” or rather, punish for the words.
Blasphemy.—Comp. Isa_1:4; Isa_5:24, where the cognate verb is used; and Neh_9:18; Neh_9:26, where the noun “provocations” is almost identical.
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The children are come . . .—With this proverb, expressive of the utter collapse of all human resources, comp. the similar language of Hosea (Hos_13:13).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This…
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of Blasphemy. Of "trouble," or "distress," manifestly a day on which the whole nation is troubled, grieved, alarmed, distressed, made miserable. It is also a day of "rebuke," or rather of "chastisement a day on which God"s hand lies heavy upon us and chastises us for our sins. And it is a day, not of "blasphemy," but of "abhorrence" or of "contumely a day on which God contumeliously rejects his people, and allows them to be insulted by their enemies (see the comments of Keil and Bahr). For the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. A proverbial expression, probably meaning that a dangerous crisis approaches, and that the nation has no strength to carry it through the peril.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This day is a day of distress
This day is a day of distress
"This is a time of distress"
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the children have come to the time of birth, but there is no strength for them to be born
This is a metaphor to describe how the people and their leaders have become so weak and unable to fight the enemy. (See: Metaphor)
all the words of the chief commander
"everything that the chief commander has said"
lift up your prayer
This a common way (an idiom) to use the action of lifting to metaphorically represent praying earnestly to Yahweh who is above us. AT: "pray earnestly" (See: Metaphor and Idiom)
translationWords
rebuke
Yahweh
God
word
Assyria
lord
life
pray
remnant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.