2 Kings 20:2

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying,

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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הַקִּ֑יר

qîyr

H7023

“the · wall”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 74× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 30:3

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6979

TWOT: 2022

wall, side - wall (of house or chamber) - the sides (of the altar)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
8: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
2 prepositions
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיַּסֵּ֥ב Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect
וַיִּ֨תְפַּלֵּ֔ל Hithpael · Sequential Imperfect
לֵאמֹֽר Qal · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֶל to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 12 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Kings 20:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 50:15 Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
1 Kings 8:30 Listen you to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive.
Isaiah 38:2–3 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh,
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Kings 20:2 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיַּסֵּ֥ב אֶת פָּנָ֖יו אֶל הַקִּ֑יר וַיִּ֨תְפַּלֵּ֔ל אֶל יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר

Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Kings 20:2 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀποστρέφω εζεκιας ὁ πρόσωπον αὐτός πρός ὁ τοῖχος καί εὔχομαι πρός κύριος λέγω

And Ezekias turned to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְאַסְחַר יַת אַפּוֹהִי לְכוֹתֵל בֵּית מַקְדְשָׁא וְצַלֵי קֳדָם יְיָ לְמֵימָר:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Kings 20:2 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

2Ki 20:2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

Ver. 2. Then he turned his face to the wall.] Not so much out of fear of death, - though nature at death will have a bout with the best; and to die actively is not every man’s happiness; quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo, saith one; death in itself is nature’s slaughter-man, hell’s harbinger, &c., - {a} nor at all because he was uncertain whither he should go when he died, as Jerome would have it: but Isaiah’s message of death was so harsh and heavy to him, because he had then died without issue, as appeareth in that Manasseh was but twelve years old at his father’s death.

{a} φοβερωτατον ο θανατος, περας γαρ. - Arist., Ethic., lib. iii. cap. 6.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

2Ki 20:2. Then he turned his face to the wall — As he lay in his bed. He could not retire to his closet; but he retired as well as he could; he turned from the company to converse with God. When we cannot be so private as we would in our devotions, nor perform them with the usual outward expressions of reverence and solemnity, yet we must not, therefore, omit them, but compose and address ourselves to them as well as we can.

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

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

20:2-3 Unlike Ahab, who went to bed in a royal pout (1 Kgs 21:4), Hezekiah . . . turned his face to the wall and prayed.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That his mind might not be troubled.

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

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

he turned his face to the wall--not like Ahab (Kg1 21:4), in fretful discontent, but in order to secure a better opportunity for prayer.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Then he turned his face.—And he turned his face round (1Ki_21:4). Hezekiah did so to avoid being disturbed in his prayer; and perhaps because grief instinctively seeks a hiding-place.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

2. Then he turned his face to the wall] He was in deep sorrow, and would pray without being observed. Ahab did the like, but it was in childish petulance (1Ki_21:4). If Manasseh was the eldest son of Hezekiah, the king was at this time childless, for Manasseh was but twelve years old at his father’s death. Hence not only his own life, but the succession of the house of David appeared likely to come to an end.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He turned his face to the wall - Contrast 1Ki 21:4. Ahab turned in sullenness, because he was too angry to converse; Hezekiah in devotion, because he wished to pray undisturbed.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Wall, towards the temple; (Chaldean, &c.) or that he might be less distracted, and indulge his grief without restraint.

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

He turned his face to the wall; either because the temple lay that way; or rather, that by turning his face from the company he might intimate his desire of privacy, and so might with more freedom and fervency pour out his soul to God.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

2. Turned his face to the wall — Towards the wall of his room, away from all present, so as not to be confused by the sight of men. This act was “not merely to collect his thoughts, or to conceal his tears, but as a natural expression of strong feeling. As Ahab turned his face towards the wall in anger, (1Ki_21:4,) so Hezekiah dies the same in grief.” — Alexander.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Then he turned his face to the wall i.e. , away from those who were standing beside his bed, and might have distracted his attention, to pray with more concentration and earnestnessand prayed unto the Lord, saying . (comp. 2Ki_19:15) It was natural to Hezekiah, in every kind of affliction and distress, to take his trouble direct to God.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Turned his face - As he lay in his bed. He could not retire to his closet, but he retired as well as he could, turned from the company, to converse with God.

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

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Kings, in the Historical, opens this verse with 9 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is qîyr (“wall”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word qîyr carries the sense “wall.” How does it shape the verse?
Psalms 50:15 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «וַיַּסֵּ֥ב» is Hiphil Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 2 words in this verse.
“to” occurs 2× in this single verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.