2 Kings 19:24

2Ki 19:24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

Ver. 24. I have digged and drunk strange waters,] {a} i.e., Newly found waters, though thou hast endeavoured to stop from me and mine army the waters of the fountains. {2Ch 32:3-4}

And with the sole of my feet.] Thrasonica hyperbole; he proudly boasteth of his numerous army, and that with the trampling of his horse and horsemen he could dry up the pools about Jerusalem.

{a} Nihil est mihi impossibile. - Vat.

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.

2Ki 19:24. I have digged and drunk strange waters — That is, says Vitringa, “I have hitherto possessed all my desires; whatever I have vehemently thirsted after, I have attained.” Others understand this and the following clause more literally, thus: “I have marched through deserts, where it was expected my army would have perished with thirst; and yet even there have I digged and found water: and I have rendered rivers fordable by turning their streams from their ancient beds, and have deprived the besieged of the benefit of those waters.” Vitringa, however, renders the last clause, with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt. The prophet is thought to allude to a custom of the Egyptians, who commonly made use of machines, which were worked by the foot, to draw water from rivers, for whatever purpose it might be wanted; and the meaning, according to Vitringa, is, that the Assyrian, by the assistance of his very numerous army, the sole of his foot, would dry up all the rivers of Egypt, so that they should not delay the success of his expedition. The expression is of the hyperbolic kind, and well suits this haughty monarch, whose mind was at this time full of his expedition into Judea and Egypt. — See Dr. Dodd.

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

Or, the waters of cities besieged.

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

Verse 24. I have dipped and drunk strange waters] I have conquered strange countries, in which I have digged wells for my army; or, I have gained the wealth of strange countries.

With the sole of my feet] My infantry have been so numerous that they alone have been sufficient to drink up the rivers of the places I have besieged.

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

(24) I have digged and drunk strange waters.—Scarcity of water has hitherto been no bar to my advance. In foreign and hostile lands, where the fountains and cisterns have been stopped and covered in (2Ch_32:3), I have digged new wells.

And with the sole . . . places.—Rather, and I will dry up with the sole of my feet all the Nile arms of Mâçôr—i.e., Lower Egypt. (Comp. Isa_19:5 seq.) Neither mountains nor rivers avail to stop my progress. As the style is poetical, perhaps it would be correct to take the perfects, which in 2Ki_19:23-24 alternate with imperfects, in a future sense: “I—I will ascend lofty mountains . . . I will dig and drink strange waters” the latter in the arid desert that lies between Egypt and Palestine (the Et-Tîh). Otherwise, both perfects and imperfects may mark what is habitual: “I ascend . . . I dig.”

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

24. I have digged and drunk strange waters] Probably there is some allusion in this boast which is put into the mouth of Sennacherib to the attempts made by Hezekiah (2Ch_32:3-4) to deprive the Assyrians of a supply of water. Sennacherib means to say: ‘Do what you may I am able by digging wells wherever I go to get water for my host, even where none had been found before’. This is most likely the sense of ‘strange’, which word does not appear in the corresponding verse of Isaiah.

And with the sole of my feet have I dried] [R.V. will I dry] up all the rivers of besieged places] R.V. of Egypt. This is a boast of the opposite nature. In Judæa the trouble might be that there was too little water. In Egypt there would be too much. But as in the former case the Assyrian could surmount all difficulties, so he had but to march into Egypt, and at his approach the Nile should be dried up and make a way for his troops to pass. The change of tense in the verb is necessary from the Hebrew, and the language is the proud king’s way of saying ‘As soon as I have reduced Jerusalem, I will pass on to Egypt and win that land too’.

The word translated ‘rivers’ is the Heb. ‘Yeor’ and is a proper name of the Nile. See R.V. Gen_41:1 margin. It is translated ‘Nile’ in R.V. of Isa_19:7, three times over. Also the word rendered ‘besieged places’ is the Hebrew ‘Mazor’ another form for ‘Mizraim’ the common word for ‘Egypt’, ‘Mazor’ is translated ‘Egypt’ in R.V. both here and in Isa_19:6, and Mic_7:12.

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.

Have digged and drunk ... and dried up - The meaning seems to be - “Mountains do not stop me - I cross them even in my chariots. Deserts do not stop me - I dig wells there, and drink the water. Rivers do not stop me - I pass them as easily as if they were dry land.”

The rivers of besieged places - Rather, “the rivers of Egypt.” The singular form, Mazor (compare the modern Misr and the Assyrian Muzr), is here used instead of the ordinary dual form, Mizraim, perhaps because “Lower Egypt” only is intended. This was so cut up with canals and branches of the Nile, natural and artificial, that it was regarded as impassable for chariots and horses. Sennacherib, however, thought that these many streams would prove no impediments to him; he would advance as fast as if they were “dried up.”

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

Strange waters, which did not run in my original dominions, (Haydock) or which were found by opening springs before unknown. --- Shut-up, with mounds of earth, or in the banks of rivers. The army of Xerxes is said to have drunk whole rivers dry. We might also translate, "I have dried up the waters, which served as ramparts for cities." Thus Cyrus diverted the streams of the Gnidus, and of the Euphrates. Hebrew also, perhaps most literally, "I will dry up the rivulets of Egypt." See Isaias xix. 6., and xxxvii. 25. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "all the rivers of besieged places." (Haydock)

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).

Strange waters; such as were never discovered nor used by others. And therefore all thy endeavours to deprive me of water for my army, 2Ch 32:3, are idle and fruitless.

With the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places; and as I can furnish my army with water digged out of the earth, by their labour, and my art; so I can deprive my enemies of their water, and can dry up their rivers, and that with the sole of my feet, i.e. with the march of my vast and numerous army, who will easily do this, either by marching through them, and each carrying part away with them; or by drinking every one a little of them; or by their pains making many new channels, and driving the waters of the river into them, as Cyrus dried up Euphrates, and thereby took Babylon.

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

24. Strange waters — That is, waters of foreign countries; waters strange to a native Assyrian. He boasts that he enters strange lands, and digs and drinks their waters.

With the sole of my feet — As though I were a god, and able to dry up rivers by merely setting my foot upon their waters.

All the rivers of besieged places — Better, all the canals of Matzor; commonly rendered, all the streams of Egypt. מצור, Matzor, is a poetical name for Egypt, (compare Isa_19:6,) and the rivers would naturally refer to the arms or canals of the Nile. So this verse contains Sennacherib’s boast of what he intends to do to Egypt. “Just as Lebanon could not stop the expeditions of the Assyrians, or keep them back from the conquest of the land of Canaan, so the desert which separated Egypt from Asia, notwithstanding its want of water, could not prevent his forcing his way through it and laying Egypt waste. The digging of water is not merely ‘a reopening of the wells that had been choked up with rubbish, and the cisterns that had been covered up before the approaching enemy,’ (Thenius,) but the digging of wells in the waterless desert. Strange water is not merely water belonging to others, but water not belonging to this soil, that is, water supplied by a region which had none at other times. By the perfects [I have digged, etc.] the thing is represented as already done — as exposed to no doubt whatever. The drying up of the rivers with the soles of the feet is an hyperbolical expression denoting the omnipotence with which the Assyrian rules over the earth. Just as he digs water in the desert where no water is to be had, so does he annihilate it where mighty rivers exist.” — Keil.

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

I have digged and drunk strange waters; rather, perhaps, I dig, and drink... and dry up the preterit having again a present sense. Sennacherib means that this is what he is wont to do. As mountains do not stop him (ver. 23), so deserts do not stop him he digs wells in them, and drinks water "strange" to the soil never before seen there. And with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places; rather, will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt. (compare the Revised Version. "Mazor" is used for "Egypt" in Isa_19:6 and Mic_7:12) It is the old singular from which was formed the dual Mizraim. Whether it meant "land of strength" (Pusey), or "land of distress" (Ewald), may be doubted, since we have no right to assume a Hebrew derivation. There was probably a native word, from which the Hebrew Mazor, the Assyrian Muzr, and the Arabic Misr were taken. Sennacherib"s beast is that, as he makes deserts traversable by digging wells, so, if rivers try to stop him, he will find a way of drying them up. Compare the boasts of Alaric in Claudian ("Bell. Get.," pp. 525-532), who had probably this passage of Kings in his thoughts

To patior suadente fugam, cum cesserit omnis Obsequiis natura meis? Subsidere nostris Sub pedibus montes, arescere vidimus amnes Fregi Alpes, galeisque Padum victricibus hausi.

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

Strange waters - Such as were never discovered by others. Dried up - And as I can furnish my army with water digged out of the earth; so I can deprive my enemies of their water, and can dry up their rivers, and that with the sole of my feet; with the march of my vast and numerous army, who will easily do this, either by marching through them, and each carrying away part with them: or by making new channels, and driving the waters of the river into them.

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

I dug and drank strange water. I.e., I started all my deeds and completed [them], as one who digs a hole and finds flowing water and drinks it. Flowing water he calls “זרים [=strange],” because until now no one knew of them.

And I dry up with the soles of my feet. If I besiege a city that depends upon its rivers, I bring many troops upon it who dry up its rivers with their drinking and the drinking of their cattle and by the treading of their feet.

And I dry up. This is in the present tense [because] this is always my way.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.