Isaiah 37:17

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁸When the Rab-shakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. ⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: "He has set out to fight against you." On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with the order: ¹⁰"Tell Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? ¹²Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed rescue them-the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? ¹³Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'" 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. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶"O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Incline: 2 Chronicles 6:40, Job 36:7, Psalms 17:6, Psalms 71:2, Psalms 130:1, Psalms 130:2, Daniel 9:17-19, 1 Peter 3:12

hear: Isaiah 37:4, 2 Samuel 16:12, Psalms 10:14, Psalms 10:15, Psalms 74:10, Psalms 74:22, Psalms 79:12, Psalms 89:50, Psalms 89:51

Reciprocal: Exodus 15:7 - them that 1 Kings 18:37 - Hear me 2 Kings 19:16 - bow down Psalms 44:16 - For the Psalms 86:1 - Bow Isaiah 36:18 - Hath Jeremiah 10:10 - the living Lamentations 1:9 - for Daniel 9:18 - incline Zechariah 12:4 - I will open Acts 4:29 - behold 1 Thessalonians 1:9 - the living

Cross-References

2 Kings 6:13
So the king said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him." On receiving the report, "Elisha is in Dothan,"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear,.... The prayer which Hezekiah was now presenting to him, as also the reproach of the enemy:

open thine eyes, O Lord, and see; the letter he spread before him, and take notice of the blasphemies in it; and punish for them. Both these clauses are to be understood after the manner of men, and in a way becoming the being and perfections of God, to whom ears and eyes are not properly to be ascribed, and so likewise the bowing of the one, and the opening of the other; but both denote the gracious condescension of God, to take notice of things on earth, and vindicate the cause of his people, which is his own:

and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living God; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, understand it of the words which Sennacherib sent in the letter to reproach the Lord; but in 2 Kings 19:16, it is, "which hath sent him"; the messenger, Rabshakeh, or whoever was the person that brought the letter to Hezekiah. The Targum paraphrases the latter part thus,

"to reproach the people of the living God;''

both God and his people were reproached, and both carry in them arguments with the Lord to hear and avenge himself and them; and the king prays that he would "hear", take notice of and observe all the words and give a proper answer, by inflicting just punishment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Incline thine ear - This is evidently language taken from what occurs among people. When they are desirous of hearing distinctly, they incline the ear or apply it close to the speaker. Similar language is not unfrequently used in the Scriptures as applicable to God 2 Kings 19:16; Psalms 86:1; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 88:2; Daniel 9:18.

Open thine eyes - This is similar language applied to God, derived from the fact that when we wish to see an object, the eyes are fixed upon it (compare Job 14:3; Job 27:19).

And hear all the words - That is, attend to their words, and inflict suitable punishment. This was the burden of the prayer of Hezekiah, that God would vindicate his own honor, and save his name from reproach.

Which he hath sent - In the letters which he had sent to Hezekiah, as well as the words which he had sent to the people by Rabshakeh Isaiah 36:18-20.

To reproach the living God - (See the note at Isaiah 37:4).