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Isaiah 37:36–38 and 2 Kings 19:35–37

The night of the 185,000

"Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand." Isaiah and 2 Kings 19:35 agree on the number (Kings adds "that night"). No Assyrian source mentions a disaster; Herodotus tells of mice in Egypt; Sennacherib's murder by his son in 681 BC is confirmed by the Babylonian Chronicle. The Hebrew witnesses of Isaiah agree.

Read Isaiah 37:36–38 and 2 Kings 19:35–37 in every edition

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. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. 2 Kings 19:35 (Masoretic Text)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 37:36–38. The angel of the LORD and the number 185,000 as in the Masoretic Text; in v. 38 "in the house of Nisroch" has a preposition and Ararat is spelled Hurarat. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

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

    Egressus est autem angelus Domini, et percussit in castris Assyriorum centum octoginta quinque millia. Et surrexerunt mane, et ecce omnes cadavera mortuorum. Et egressus est, et abiit, et reversus est Sennacherib, rex Assyriorum, et habitavit in Ninive. Et factum est, cum adoraret in templo Nesroch deum suum, Adramelech et Sarasar, filii ejus, percusserunt eum gladio, fugeruntque in terram Ararat; et regnavit Asarhaddon, filius ejus, pro eo.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 37:36–38. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

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

    וַיֵּצֵ֣א ׀ מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהוָ֗ה וַיַּכֶּה֙ בְּמַחֲנֵ֣ה אַשּׁ֔וּר מֵאָ֛ה וּשְׁמֹנִ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּׁ֖ה אָ֑לֶף וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהִנֵּ֥ה כֻלָּ֖ם פְּגָרִ֥ים מֵתִֽים׃ וַיִּסַּ֣ע וַיֵּ֔לֶךְ וַיָּ֖שָׁב סַנְחֵרִ֣יב מֶֽלֶךְ־אַשּׁ֑וּר וַיֵּ֖שֶׁב בְּנִֽינְוֵֽה׃ וַיְהִי֩ ה֨וּא מִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֜ה בֵּ֣ית ׀ נִסְרֹ֣ךְ אֱלֹהָ֗יו וְֽאַדְרַמֶּ֨לֶךְ וְשַׂרְאֶ֤צֶר בָּנָיו֙ הִכֻּ֣הוּ בַחֶ֔רֶב וְהֵ֥מָּה נִמְלְט֖וּ אֶ֣רֶץ אֲרָרָ֑ט וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ אֵֽסַר־חַדֹּ֥ן בְּנ֖וֹ תַּחְתָּֽיו׃

    The angel of the LORD went out and struck in the camp of Assyria 185,000; when they rose in the morning, all were dead bodies (v. 36)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 37:36–38.

  5. AD 1008

    2 Kings 19:35 (Masoretic Text)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

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

    וַיְהִי֮ בַּלַּ֣יְלָה הַהוּא֒ וַיֵּצֵ֣א ׀ מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהוָ֗ה וַיַּךְ֙ בְּמַחֲנֵ֣ה אַשּׁ֔וּר מֵאָ֛ה שְׁמוֹנִ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּׁ֖ה אָ֑לֶף וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהִנֵּ֥ה כֻלָּ֖ם פְּגָרִ֥ים מֵתִֽים׃

    And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck in the camp of Assyria 185,000…

    The parallel; adds "that night."

  6. 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).

    Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar–haddon his son reigned in his stead.

  7. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

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

    Et l’ange du Seigneur s’avança, et il extermina dans le camp des Assyriens cent quatre-vingt-cinq mille hommes; et les survivants se levèrent dès l’aurore, et ils ne trouvèrent que des cadavres. Et Sennachérib, roi des Assyriens, partit et il s’en retourna, et il ne sortit plus de Ninive. Et comme il adorait, dans le temple de Nasarach, le premier de ses dieux, ses fils Adramelech et Sarasar le tuèrent de leurs épées; puis ils se sauvèrent en Arménie, et Asordan, son fils, régna à sa place.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 37:36–38. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: stable text; a parallel account in Kings; the number is the Bible's alone.

The Great Isaiah Scroll spells Ararat as Hurarat (described from a transcription).

Kings' "that night" ties the event to Isaiah's oracle (19:32–34); Isaiah lacks the phrase.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedIsaiah and Kings agree on 185,000.
  • Not independently verified185,000 Assyrians died. No independent source.
  • Independently documentedSennacherib was killed by a son in 681 BC.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 37: The Angel of the LORD Went Forth →Hezekiah tears his clothes, enters the temple and sends to Isaiah: "the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" (37:1–4). Isaiah answers: do not fear; God will put a spirit in Sennacherib, he will hear a rumor and return to fall by the sword in his own land (vv. 5–7). Sennacherib, at Libnah, hears that Tirhakah king of Cush is coming, and sends a letter (vv. 8–13). Hezekiah spreads it before the LORD and prays: "thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth" (vv. 14–20). Isaiah's oracle: "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee"; your boasts were my plan; "I will put my hook in thy nose"; a sign of three harvests; "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there" (vv. 21–35). That night the angel of the LORD strikes 185,000 in the Assyrian camp; Sennacherib returns to Nineveh, where his sons kill him as he worships Nisroch (vv. 36–38).
    • Investigation: Jerusalem Besieged, 701 BC →The campaign of 701 BC is one of the best-documented events of the Iron Age: four biblical accounts (Isaiah 36–37, 2 Kings 18–19, 2 Chronicles 32, and Isaiah's own oracles), the Assyrian king's annals in several editions, the Lachish reliefs from his palace, and the excavated ruins of Judah. They agree on much and disagree on much. This investigation sets them side by side and sorts each statement into three columns: what Assyria claimed, what the Bible reports, and what independent evidence establishes.
    • 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.