2 Kings 19:7

19:7 Look, I will take control of his mind; 1  he will receive 2  a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down 3  with a sword in his own land.”’”

2 Kings 19:37

19:37 One day, 4  as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, 5  his sons 6  Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. 7  They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

1 tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh), “spirit,” is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.

2 tn Heb “hear.”

3 tn Heb “cause him to fall,” that is, “kill him.”

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

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

6 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.

7 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.