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Journey of a Passage

2 Kings 19:35–37

185,000, and Sennacherib's death

All witnesses checked give 185,000 Assyrian dead. No Assyrian source mentions such a loss. Sennacherib's later murder by a son is attested outside the Bible.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original KingsUnknown (debated)
  2. Isaiah 37:36 (Great Isaiah Scroll and Masoretic Text)1QIsa-a c. 125 BC
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Kings
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. ADTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
Assyrian / Babylonian
  1. Esarhaddon's inscription; Babylonian chronicle681–680 BC

Every witness, in order

  1. 681–680 BC

    Esarhaddon's inscription; Babylonian chronicle

    ⓘ Reports what manuscripts contained

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Sennacherib killed by a son in 681 BC; Esarhaddon defeats rebel brothers. Assyrian letters name a son Arda-Mulissi, matching Adrammelech.

  2. Unknown (debated)

    Original Kings

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  3. 1QIsa-a c. 125 BC

    Isaiah 37:36 (Great Isaiah Scroll and Masoretic Text)

    ⓘ Reports what manuscripts contained

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    The parallel account; reported to have the same number.

  4. Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. AD

    Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    il extermina… cent quatre-vingt-cinq mille hommes… ses fils Adramelech et Sarasar le tuèrent

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  5. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    centum octoginta quinque millia

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Kings

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    מֵאָה שְׁמוֹנִים וַחֲמִשָּׁה אָלֶף

    a hundred eighty-five thousand

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    an hundred fourscore and five thousand

What changed, and why

The number is stable in the texts. Its historical meaning (literal count, a large figure in ancient style, or a theological account of a disaster in the camp) cannot be tested from Assyrian sources, which never record defeats.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe witnesses agree on 185,000.
  • Independently documentedSennacherib was murdered by a son.
  • Conflicts with current evidenceAssyrian records mention the loss of 185,000.

Sources

Related lessons

  • Isaiah and Jerusalem's Deliverance →Hezekiah goes into the temple in sackcloth and sends to Isaiah, who answers: do not be afraid. Sennacherib sends a letter; Hezekiah spreads it before the LORD and prays. Isaiah delivers a long oracle against Assyria's pride: the king of Assyria shall not enter the city. That night the angel of the LORD strikes 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh and is later killed by two of his sons while worshiping his god.