This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

2 KINGS 19:21KJV
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2 Kings 19:21 (KJV)

What does 2 Kings 19:21 mean?

2 Kings 19:21 presents God’s answer to the Assyrian king’s threats against Jerusalem. Through the prophet Isaiah, God pictures Jerusalem as a young woman who mocks the king rather than accepting his claims to power over her.

“The virgin the daughter of Zion” is a poetic way of speaking about Jerusalem and its people. The picture of a woman shaking her head expresses contempt for the threatening king. After Hezekiah’s prayer, this verse begins the answer Isaiah sends to him.

The Hebrew behind 2 Kings 19:21

  • “virgin” — בְּתוּלָה (betulah): The word refers to a young woman who is a virgin. Joined with “daughter of Zion,” it helps turn the city into a character in the picture.
  • “despised” — בָּזָה (bazah): The word carries the sense of treating someone with contempt. Jerusalem is pictured as looking down on the king who has threatened her.
  • “shaken” — נוּעַ (nuaʿ): The word can mean to move or wag. Here, the movement of the head is a gesture of scorn, matching the laughter in the same sentence.

Why 2 Kings 19:21 matters

  • The person being mocked is the Assyrian king, not Hezekiah. The verse introduces the message as God’s word “concerning him,” referring to the king whose threats prompted Hezekiah’s prayer.

  • The city’s voice is part of God’s message through Isaiah. The verse first says, “the LORD hath spoken,” then gives Jerusalem’s scornful response in the picture.

  • The challenge goes beyond the king’s treatment of the city. The next verse asks whom he has insulted, pointing to the LORD himself as the target of the king’s words.

Where else these words appear

“scorn” Hebrew H3932 · used in 18 verses

  • 2 Chronicles 30:10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
  • Job 21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
  • Proverbs 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

“shaken” Hebrew H5128 · used in 36 verses

  • Genesis 4:12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
  • Job 28:4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
  • Isaiah 29:9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

“despised” Hebrew H959 · used in 41 verses

  • Genesis 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
  • Psalms 15:4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
  • Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

“virgin” Hebrew H1330 · used in 50 verses

  • Genesis 24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
  • Esther 2:3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:
  • Jeremiah 31:13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.