Scripture · Old Testament
2 Kings 18:21
2 Kings 18:21 is verse 21 of 2 Kings chapter 18, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
King James Version
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
World English Bible
Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.
Read in context
2 Kings 18:19–23 · Berean Standard Bible
19 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?
20 You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
21 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
23 Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
Read all of 2 Kings 18Hebrew words
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Study 2 Kings 18:21
Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
Isaiah 36:6Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
Ezekiel 29:6Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 29:7When Israel took hold of you with their hands, you splintered, tearing all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke, and their backs were wrenched.
Isaiah 30:2They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.
Isaiah 30:7Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
Isaiah 31:1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.
Isaiah 31:2Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.
Isaiah 31:3But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.
2 Kings 17:4But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
Jeremiah 46:17There they will cry out: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise; he has let the appointed time pass him by.’