Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 19:24

"I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt." — 2 Kings 19:24 (ASV)

I have digged and drunk strange waters. —Scarcity of water has until now been no obstacle to my advance. In foreign and hostile lands, where the fountains and cisterns have been stopped and covered up (2 Chronicles 32:3), I have dug new wells.

And with the sole ... places. —Rather, and I will dry up with the sole of my feet all the Nile arms of Mâçôr — i.e., Lower Egypt. (Compare to Isaiah 19:5 and following). Neither mountains nor rivers can stop my progress.

As the style is poetical, perhaps it would be correct to take the perfects, which in 2 Kings 19:23–24 alternate with imperfects, in a future sense: “I—I will ascend lofty mountains ... I will dig and drink strange waters.” This latter reference is to the arid desert that lies between Egypt and Palestine (the Et-Tîh).

Otherwise, both perfects and imperfects may mark what is habitual: “I ascend ... I dig.”