2 Chronicles 32:19 kjv
And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man.
2 Chronicles 32:19 nkjv
And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth? the work of men's hands.
2 Chronicles 32:19 niv
They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world?the work of human hands.
2 Chronicles 32:19 esv
And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
2 Chronicles 32:19 nlt
These officers talked about the God of Jerusalem as though he were one of the pagan gods, made by human hands.
2 Chronicles 32 19 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Isa 36:19 | "Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?... have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?" | Assyrian boast, comparing God to local deities. |
| Isa 37:10 | "Let not your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." | Sennacherib's taunt against Judah's trust in God. |
| Isa 37:23 | "Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!" | God's response to Sennacherib's blasphemy. |
| 2 Ki 19:10-12 | "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you... did the gods of the nations deliver them...?" | Parallel account emphasizing the Assyrian challenge. |
| Psa 115:4-7 | "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak..." | Description of man-made, impotent idols. |
| Psa 135:15-18 | "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak..." | Reiterates the worthlessness of carved images. |
| Deu 4:28 | "There you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell." | Warning against worshipping created, useless idols. |
| Isa 44:9-10 | "All who fashion idols are nothing, and their delectable things are useless... they neither see nor know." | Denunciation of idol makers and their creations. |
| Isa 44:19-20 | "He does not know... a deluded heart has turned him aside, and he cannot deliver himself or say, 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?'" | Folly and delusion of idolatry. |
| Jer 10:3-5 | "For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down... It is shaped... and fastened with hammer and nails... They cannot speak..." | Futility of idols made by human hands. |
| Jer 10:10-11 | "But the LORD is the true God... The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens." | Contrast: the true God versus perishing false gods. |
| 1 Chr 16:26 | "For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens." | God's unique identity as Creator, unlike idols. |
| Exo 20:3-5 | "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image..." | Prohibition against idols and false gods (1st & 2nd Commandment). |
| Dan 5:23 | "But you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven... and you have praised the gods of silver and gold..." | Belshazzar's blasphemy, praising idols over God. |
| Hab 2:18-19 | "What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it... Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, 'Awake;' to a silent stone, 'Arise!'" | Mockery of reliance on powerless idols. |
| Hos 13:4 | "But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior." | God's exclusive claim as the only true God and Savior. |
| Acts 17:29 | "We ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man." | New Testament challenge to man-made religious images. |
| Rom 1:22-23 | "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man..." | Idolatry as foolish exchange of God for creation. |
| 1 Thess 1:9 | "...you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God..." | Conversion from dead idols to the living God. |
| Rev 9:20 | "The rest of mankind... did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold..." | Persistent human rebellion through idolatry. |
2 Chronicles 32 verses
2 Chronicles 32 19 Meaning
This verse describes how the officials of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, blasphemed against the God of Jerusalem. Their contemptuous words equated the Most High God with the impotent idols worshipped by other nations, reducing Him to a mere human-made construct, devoid of true divine power and uniqueness.
2 Chronicles 32 19 Context
2 Chronicles chapter 32 describes the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and his siege of Jerusalem. Faced with the formidable Assyrian army, King Hezekiah diligently prepared the city for defense, encouraged his people to trust in the LORD, and appealed to God for deliverance. Sennacherib, attempting psychological warfare, sent messengers and letters to demoralize the inhabitants and undermine their faith, urging them to surrender and not to rely on their God. Verse 19 specifically details the extreme form of this Assyrian blasphemy: directly comparing the God of Jerusalem to the gods of conquered nations, which were known to be man-made images and had failed to protect their worshippers. This act served as a pivotal point, escalating the conflict from a military siege to a divine confrontation, leading to God's intervention on behalf of Judah.
2 Chronicles 32 19 Word analysis
- And they spoke: Refers to Sennacherib's officials, particularly the Rabshekah (commander), who delivered the king's message. The repetition of "spoke" (verses 10, 11, 15, 18, 19) highlights their persistent, public, and deliberate campaign of psychological warfare and demoralization.
- against the God of Jerusalem: This denotes a direct verbal assault and blasphemy against YHWH, the specific God of Israel. For the Judahites, He was the sole Creator and Sovereign; for the polytheistic Assyrians, He was perceived as merely another regional deity associated with a particular city, just like other nations had their gods.
- as against the gods: This crucial phrase explicitly draws a false equivalence. The Assyrians treated the one true, infinite, living God as though He were no different from the countless, finite, and powerless deities worshipped by the peoples of the earth.
- of the peoples of the earth: Refers to the various nations that Assyria had already conquered. Their "gods" had proven incapable of protecting them from the Assyrian might, thereby bolstering Sennacherib's argument that Jerusalem's God would similarly fail.
- the work of men's hands: A common and powerful biblical idiom used pejoratively for idols. This phrase strips false gods of any divine claim, emphasizing their created, inanimate nature and total lack of power, in stark contrast to the uncreated, self-existent, and omnipotent God of Israel. This phrase is a theological weapon in the polemic against idolatry.
Words-group analysis:
- "They spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods...": This juxtaposition reveals the profound spiritual clash. The Assyrians' understanding of divine power was limited to what they saw – regional deities conquered by stronger imperial gods or armies. Their challenge was a fundamental assault on monotheism and God's exclusive nature.
- "the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands": This complete phrase powerfully denigrates all idols and by extension, falsely associates the living God with their impotence. It underpins the Assyrian worldview that assumes all deities are localized and manufactured, thus defeatable. This challenge elevates the confrontation beyond human armies to a direct defiance of the Most High God.
2 Chronicles 32 19 Bonus section
The blasphemy in this verse represents a classic biblical example of human hubris challenging divine sovereignty. The Assyrians, celebrating their conquests by defaming the gods of their victims, were applying a standard polytheistic conquering principle. However, by equating the God of Israel with idols, they crossed a theological line, directly mocking the One whose very essence is opposed to man-made objects of worship. This verse sets the stage for God's extraordinary intervention in 2 Chronicles 32:21, serving as a powerful illustration that God will defend His unique nature and respond directly to those who mock His power by equating Him with anything less than Himself.
2 Chronicles 32 19 Commentary
2 Chronicles 32:19 marks a peak in the Assyrian's audacious challenge, where the psychological warfare shifts into open blasphemy. Sennacherib's officials, unable to comprehend the uniqueness of Israel's God, arrogantly placed Him on par with the lifeless, human-crafted idols of their conquered foes. This act was designed not only to terrorize Jerusalem's inhabitants by pointing to the supposed failure of other "gods" but also to fundamentally undermine the theological bedrock of Judah's faith: that their God was the only true, living, and active deity, the uncreated Creator, unlike anything made by "men's hands." This comparison was the ultimate insult, as it denied God's sovereignty and reduced Him to a mere earthly object, implicitly suggesting He was equally vulnerable to Assyrian power. Such contempt directly provoked God, inviting His dramatic intervention to defend His own holy name and demonstrate the vast gulf between His divine reality and the impotent fabrications of man.