2 Kings 19:21

2Ki 19:21 This [is] the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, [and] laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

Ver. 21. The virgin, the daughter of Zion.] A weak virgin she may seem; but she hath a strong champion who will maintain her cause and quarrel, and hence it is that she thus outfaceth so formidable an enemy.

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.

Concerning him - i. e., “concerning Sennacherib.” 2Ki 19:21-28 are addressed to the great Assyrian monarch himself, and are God’s reply to his proud boastings.

The virgin, the daughter of Zion, - Rather, holy eastern city, is here distinguished from Jerusalem, the western one, and is given the remarkable epithet “virgin,” which is not applied to her sister; probably because the true Zion, the city of David, had remained inviolable from David’s time, having never been entered by an enemy. Jerusalem, on the other hand, had been taken, both by Shishak 1Ki 14:26 and by Jehoash 2Ki 14:13. The personification of cities as females is a common figure (compare marginal references).

Hath shaken her head at thee - This was a gesture of scorn with the Hebrews (compare the marginal references; Mat 27:39).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2Ki 19:21. The daughter of Zion — That is, Jerusalem; which is called the daughter of Zion, say some, because the hill of Zion, as being the strongest and safest part, was first inhabited, and by the increase of inhabitants, Jerusalem arising around, as it were, sprang from it, and might therefore properly enough be termed its daughter. But it is more probable that the people of Zion, or of Jerusalem, (Zion, an eminent part of the city, being put for the whole,) are here termed its daughter, cities and countries being often called mothers, and their inhabitants daughters. Thus we read of the daughter of Babylon, the daughter of Tyre, &c., Psa 137:8; Psa 45:13. Zion or Jerusalem is termed a virgin, because she was pure in good measure from that gross idolatry wherewith other people were defiled, which is called spiritual whoredom; and to signify that God would defend her from the rape which Sennacherib intended to commit upon her, with no less care than parents do their virgin daughters from those who seek to force and deflour them. The image is extremely fine, whereby the contempt of Sennacherib’s threats is expressed.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19:21-28 The phrase virgin daughter is often used regarding civic identity (Isa 23:12; 37:22; 47:1; Jer 18:13). Here, the metaphor implies that as a young maiden is rescued from her attacker, so God will rescue Jerusalem. The Lord’s answer was delivered as a “taunt song,” a common literary form in the ancient Near East that rejoiced over an enemy’s humiliation (cp. Isa 14:3-20).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Because as yet Jerusalem had not been taken by the enemy, therefore he calleth her virgin.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 21. The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.] "So truly contemptible is thy power, and empty thy boasts, that even the young women of Jerusalem, under the guidance of Jehovah, shall be amply sufficient to discomfit all thy forces, and cause thee to return with shame to thy own country, where the most disgraceful death awaits thee."

When Bishop Warburton had published his Doctrine of Grace, and chose to fall foul on some of the most religious people of the land, a young woman of the city of Gloucester exposed his graceless system in a pamphlet, to which she affixed the above words as a motto!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(21) This is the word . . .—The prophecy which follows is well characterised by Cheyne as one “of striking interest, and both in form and matter stamped with the mark of Isaiah.”

Concerning him.—Or, against him.

The virgin the daughter of Zion.—A poetic personification of place. Zion here, as Jerusalem in the next line, is regarded as mother of the people dwelling there. (Comp. 2Sa_20:19.) The term Virgin naturally denotes the inviolable security of the citadel of Jehovah.

Hath shaken her head at thee.—Or, hath nodded behind thee. (Comp. Psa_22:8.) The people of Jerusalem nod in scorn at the retiring envoys of Sennacherib.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. The virgin the [R.V. omits the] daughter of Zion hath despised thee] The first part of the prophetic word is addressed to Sennacherib. Jerusalem is called ‘daughter of Sion’ because her inhabitants may be counted poetically as the offspring of Sion. She is also called ‘virgin’ because hitherto, since David’s time, when the chosen people first obtained complete possession of the place, it had never been conquered. And by opening the prophecy with this word it seems to be foretold that it shall still he saved from conquest. Some have preferred to take the three words as all in apposition, rendering ‘The virgin-daughter Sion’, with much the same sense. In the original the first two words are both in the construct form, but instances are found of such forms standing as if only in apposition.

The daughter of Jerusalem] i.e. The people dwelling in the city.

hath shaken her head at thee] This was a gesture of scorn. Cf. Job_16:4, ‘I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you’. See also Psa_22:7; Psa_44:15; Psa_109:25 and other parallel passages.

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.

Virgin. The few who adhere to the Lord despise all idols and their votaries. (Worthington) --- Of Sion and of Jerusalem may denote those places. Towns and provinces are often represented as women: the daughter of Babylon, the daughter of the sea, mean Babylon and a maritime town. Perhaps this comparison is used through tenderness and affection for a place. (Calmet) --- Even the most timid female would shortly despise the fallen tyrant. (Haydock) --- Wagged, out of contempt, or in a threatening manner, Psalm xxi. 8., and Matthew xxvii. 39. (Menochius)

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).

The virgin; so he calls Zion, or Jerusalem; partly, because she was pure in good measure from that gross idolatry wherewith other people were defiled, which is called spiritual whoredom; partly, to signify that God would defend her from that rape which Sennacherib intended to commit upon her, with no less care and zeal than parents do their virgin daughters from those who seek to force and deflour them; and partly, to intimate, that as she had not yet been forced and taken by her barbarous enemies, so she should still retain her virginity, in spite of his attempts against her.

The daughter of Zion, i.e. the people of Zion, i.e. as it follows, of Jerusalem; so called synecdochically from the mountain and city of Zion, which was an eminent part of it. Cities and countries are oft called mothers, as 2Sa 20:19; and their inhabitants daughters, as Num 21:25; Jos 17:16; Jdg 1:27; Psa 45:13; Psa 137:8.

Hath shaken her head at thee; laughed at all thy proud and impotent threatenings. This is a gesture of contempt and derision; of which see Psa 22:7; 44:14; Jer 18:16; Mat 27:39.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. The virgin the daughter of Zion — Better, the virgin daughter Zion. Zion, the chief mountain on which the Jewish metropolis stood, is metaphorically represented as a virgin daughter, and thus becomes a personification of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. These are collectively called in the next line of the parallelism daughter of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called a virgin, because yet unconquered and inviolate. Compare Isa_23:12; Isa_47:1; Jer_46:11; Lam_1:15.

Despised — A very appropriate word to express the feelings of a virgin towards one who aims to destroy her honour.

Laughed thee to scorn — As one conscious of impregnability.

Hath shaken her head at thee — Literally, after thee the head she has shaken. Jerusalem shakes her head as a gesture of triumphant derision after Sennacherib, as after a smitten and flying foe.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him. "Him" is, of course, Sennacherib. It adds great liveliness and force to the opening portion of the oracle, that it should be addressed directly by Jehovah to Sennacherib, as an answer to his bold challenge. The only address at all similar in Scripture is that to Nebuchadnezzar, (Dan_4:31, Dan_4:32) spoken by "a voice from heaven" But the present passage is one of far greater force and beauty. The virgin the daughter of Zion; rather, the virgin daughter of Zion, or the virgin daughter, Zion. Cities were commonly personified by the sacred writers, and represented as "daughters". (see Isa_23:10, 12 47:1, 5, etc.) "Virgin daughter" here may perhaps represent "the consciousness of impregnability" (Drechsler); but the phrase seems to have been used rhetorically or poetically, to heighten the beauty or pathos of the picture (Isa_23:12; Jer_46:11; Lam_2:13) without any reference to the question whether the particular city had or had not been previously taken. Jerusalem certainly had been taken by Shishak, (1Ki_14:26) and by Joash; (2Ki_14:13) but Zion, if it be taken as the name of the eastern city (Bishop Patrick, ad lee.), may have been still a "virgin fortress." Hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; or, despises thee and laughs thee to scorn. The Hebrew preterite has often a present sense. Whatever was the case a little while ago, (see Isa_22:1-14) the city now laughs at thy threats. The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee; or, wags her head at thee in scorn and ridicule. (Psa_22:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Virgin - So he calls Zion, or Jerusalem; because she was pure in good measure from that gross idolatry wherewith other people were defiled, which is called spiritual whoredom: and to signify, that God would defend her from the rape which Sennacherib intended to commit upon her with no less care than parents do their virgin daughters from those who seek to force and deflower them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.