37:36 The Lord’s messenger 2 went out and killed 185,000 troops 3 in the Assyrian camp. When they 4 got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! 5 37:37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 6 37:38 One day, 7 as he was worshiping 8 in the temple of his god Nisroch, 9 his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. 10 They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.
1 tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”
2 tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
3 tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.
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”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”
6 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
7 sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681
8 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
9 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.
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.