2 Kings 20:18 (ASV)

Passage

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 20:16 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah.

2 Kings 20:17 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah.

2 Kings 20:18 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

2 Kings 20:19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, Is it not so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?

2 Kings 20:20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sons", "shall", "issue", "thee", "thou", "shalt", and "beget". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sons" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Behold the days come that all that..." into verse 19's "Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah Good is...", so "sons" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In 2 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "sons" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.