2 Kings 19:31-37

19:31 For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;

survivors will come out of Mount Zion.

The intense devotion of the sovereign Lord 1  to his people 2  will accomplish this.

19:32 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city,

nor will he shoot an arrow here. 3 

He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, 4 

nor will he build siege works against it.

19:33 He will go back the way he came.

He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.

19:34 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’” 5 

19:35 That very night the Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they 6  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. 7  19:36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 8  19:37 One day, 9  as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, 10  his sons 11  Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. 12  They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

1 tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”

2 tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them. The Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, has “the zeal of the LORD of hosts” rather than “the zeal of the LORD” (Kethib). The translation follows the Qere here.

3 tn Heb “there.”

4 tn Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.

5 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”

6 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

7 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”

8 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”

9 sn The assassination probably took place in 681 b.c.

10 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name is a corruption of Nusku.

11 tc Although “his sons” is absent in the Kethib, it is supported by the Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions. Cf. Isa 37:38.

12 sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.