36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at (A)Nineveh. 37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons (B)Adrammelech and Sharezer (C)struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then (D)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

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36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at (A)Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, (B)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

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36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.[a] 37 One day,[b] as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,[c] his sons[d] Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.[e] They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 19:36 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
  2. 2 Kings 19:37 sn The assassination probably took place in 681 b.c.
  3. 2 Kings 19:37 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a textual variation of Nusku, the Mesopotamian god of light and fire. Other proposals have tried to relate the name to Ashur, the chief god of the Assyria, or to Ninurta, the Assyrian god of war.
  4. 2 Kings 19:37 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.
  5. 2 Kings 19:37 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.