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. 1
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, 2
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.’” 3
19:35 That very night the Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they 4 got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. 5 19:36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 6 19:37 One day, 7 as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, 8 his sons 9 Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. 10 They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.
1 tn Heb “there.”
2 tn Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.
3 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
4 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
5 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”
6 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
7 sn The assassination probably took place in 681
8 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name is a corruption of Nusku.
9 tc Although “his sons” is absent in the Kethib, it is supported by the Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew
10 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.