(19) They spake against.--Or, spake of Literally, unto. (Comp. Psalm 2:7; Psalm 3:2.)

People.--Peoples.

The work.--The versions have "works." Instead of repeating the offers which the Assyrian envoys made to the people of Jerusalem, to induce them to submit, the chronicler dwells on that blasphemy against the God of Israel which was the cause of the Assyrian overthrow.

The work of the hands of man.--A reminiscence of 2Kings 19:18 : "And they put their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone" (part of Hezekiah's prayer).

Verse 19. - As against the gods of the people of the earth, the work of the hands of men. Our compiler, at all events, signalizes the difference, which Sennacherib worse than minimizes, between the God of Israel and the so-called gods of the surrounding heathen nations.

32:1-23 Those who trust God with their safety, must use proper means, else they tempt him. God will provide, but so must we also. Hezekiah gathered his people together, and spake comfortably to them. A believing confidence in God, will raise us above the prevailing fear of man. Let the good subjects and soldiers of Jesus Christ, rest upon his word, and boldly say, Since God is for us, who can be against us? By the favour of God, enemies are lost, and friends gained.And they spake against the God of Jerusalem,.... The only living and true God, whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem professed to be their God, and who was worshipped by them in the temple there:

as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man; they made no difference between the one and the other, but spoke as freely and as contemptibly of the one as of the other, see Isaiah 36:19.