Sennacherib

Sennacherib (Akkadian Sin-akhkheeriba, "Sin has replaced the brothers") reigned as king of Assyria from 705 to 681 B.C. His third campaign (701 B.C.) swept through Judah, capturing 46 fortified cities and laying siege to Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 18:13 – 19:37; Isa. 36–37; 2 Chr. 32). Sennacherib's own annals (the Taylor Prism) confirm the campaign, claiming to have shut Hezekiah in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage." When his commander Rabshakeh blasphemed the LORD before the walls of Jerusalem, Isaiah prophesied divine deliverance. That night an angel of the LORD struck 185,000 in the Assyrian camp (2 Kgs. 19:35), and Sennacherib withdrew. He was assassinated by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer while worshipping in the temple of Nisroch (2 Kgs. 19:37) — a detail confirmed by Babylonian chronicles.