Bible Strands
2 Kings 19:36
So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Following the overnight strike that left 185,000 Assyrian soldiers dead in their camp, the narrative records the immediate withdrawal of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This statement concludes the account of his retreat from Jerusalem.
The words — The text uses וַ/יָּ֖שָׁב (va/i.Ya.shov) = and/ he returned alongside בְּ/נִֽינְוֵֽה\׃ (be./Ni.ne.Veh) = in/ Nineveh to mark his physical retreat to his administrative base. This phrasing emphasizes the reversal of his campaign rather than a theological conclusion.
The thread — This movement fulfills the earlier divine warning that God would cause him to hear a rumor and return to his own land (2 Kings 19:7). His destination, Nineveh, is later identified in Jonah 1:2 as a city whose wickedness had come up before God.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that military withdrawal can be the direct result of divine intervention rather than human strategy. It requires the reader to track how prophetic words are fulfilled through historical movement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
Cross-references
- Jonah 1:2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
- 2 Kings 19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
- 2 Kings 19:28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- 2 Kings 19:33 He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD.
- Genesis 10:11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
- Jonah 3:2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
- Nahum 1:1 This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
- Nahum 2:8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
- Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.