The interpretation timeline

2Kgs 19:14

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

2Kgs 19:14 · Douay-Rheims
“And when Ezechias had received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord,”
Patristic before A.D. 750
431
A.D.
Paulinus of Nola Patristic
c. A.D. 354–431
“Faith unguarded is armed by God. Hezekiah, through the power of faith, proved stronger with his puny force than Sennacherib, king of Babylon and rich Nineveh, with his thousands. Sennacherib had enlisted the forces of Assyria and the realm of the Medes. Laying waste with his huge legions all the neighbouring kingdoms, he proceeded towards the city sacred to the Lord and against it alone concentrated his whole massive war machine. But as he made preparations for this, God hindered him, for warfare delayed his unholy designs. He sent to Jerusalem a letter brusque in its arrogant threats. Hezekiah received it with grief and bore it to the Lord before the altar. There in prostrate prayer accompanied by his people in mourning black, he read out those harsh words and bedewed the letter with abundant tears, and so he prevailed on God. By prayer alone, though absent from the scene, he won a shattering victory over the Assyrians, who suffered a grievous death when God warred on them. This favour he won was so considerable that he did not even clap eyes on the enemy he conquered. Once his tears of complaint had passed above the constellations, once his lament from a humble heart had risen beyond the stars and his devoted words had assailed the ears of highest Father, the lofty doors of heaven swung open and a winged angel glided down, breathing the fragrant air on his smooth descent. Armed with the sword of the Word, he smote that wicked army, and glorying in the silent slaughter of the sleeping foe, he brought simultaneous death to one hundred and eighty thousand men. A single night was the accomplice engagement on that scale. Next morning the king arose still threatening but then took flight with his depleted column, wretched because his army was thus stripped of its slaughtered soldiers. He fled from Hezekiah, though the prophet was far removed in another district, and though he had only recently in his presence threatened to clap his fetters on him. At that time Isaias was mediator for Hezekiah.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.