2nd Kings Chapter 19 verse 26 Holy Bible
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
read chapter 19 in ASV
This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.
read chapter 19 in BBE
And their inhabitants were powerless, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were [as] the growing grass, and [as] the green herb, [As] the grass on the housetops, and grain blighted before it be grown up.
read chapter 19 in DARBY
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
read chapter 19 in KJV
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it is grown up.
read chapter 19 in WBT
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
read chapter 19 in WEB
And their inhabitants `are' feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up, They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted corn -- before it hath risen up!
read chapter 19 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 26. - Therefore their inhabitants were of small power; literally, were short of hand - unable, i.e., to make an effectual resistance. When God has decreed a change in the distribution of power among the nations, his providence works doubly. It infuses confidence and strength into the aggressive people, and spreads dismay and terror among those who are attacked. Unaccountable panics seize them - they seem paralyzed; instead of making every possible preparation for resistance, they fold their hands and do nothing. They are like fascinated birds before the stealthy advance of the serpent. They were dismayed and confounded. Historically, the prophet declares, this was the cause of the general collapse of the nations whom the Assyrians attacked. God put a craven fear into their hearts. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops. The "grass of the field" is one of the most frequent similes for weakness. "All flesh is grass" (Isaiah 40:6); "They shall soon be cut down like the grass" (Psalm 37:2); "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth" (Isaiah 40:8); "I am withered like grass" (Psalm 102:11). In the hot sun of an Eastern sky nothing faded more quickly. But this weakness was intensified in the "grass of the house-tops." It "withered before it grew up" (Psalm 129:6). The depth of earth was so slight, the exposure so great, the heat so scorching, that it sank in death almost as soon as it had sprung to life. Such has been the weakness of the nations given over as a prey to the Assyrians. And as corn blasted before it be grown up. Corn blasted before it shoots into a stalk is as frail as grass, or frailer. It dwindles and disappears without even asserting itself.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(26) Of small power.--Literally, short-handed. (Comp. Isaiah 1:2, Isa_59:1.) Keil compares the well-known title of Artaxerxes I., Longimanus, the "long-handed," as if that epithet meant far-reaching in power. Thenius says that a frightened man draws in his arms (?)As the grass . . .--The as may better be omitted. They were field growth and green herbage; grass of the roofs and blasting before stalk. The sense seems imperfect, unless we supply the idea of withering away, as in Psalm 37:2; Psalm 90:5-6; Psalm 129:6; Isaiah 40 (5, 7. Instead of the word blasting the parallel text (Isaiah 37:27) has field--a difference of one letter. Thenius adopts this, and corrects stalk into east wind, no great change in the Hebrew. We thus get the appropriate expression: and a field before the east wind. . . .
