Hebrew word · H5623
סַרְגוֹן
sargon
Sargon
The personal (throne) name of Sargon II, king of Assyria 722–705 BC. In Akkadian it is Šarru-kēn/Šarru-ukīn, 'the king is legitimate/true' or 'he (the god) has established the king.' The name recalls the famous ancient Sargon of Akkad.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 2Ki.18.13;
father of: Adrammelech (H0152H), Sharezer (H8272) and Esarhaddon (H0634); also called Sargon at Isa.20.1;
Another name of san.che.riv (סַנְחֵרִיב "Sennacherib" H5576)
§ Sargon = "prince of the sun"
king of Assyria, son of Shalmaneser, and father of Sennacherib; ruled from 721-702 BC; conqueror of Samaria
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
The personal (throne) name of Sargon II, king of Assyria 722–705 BC. In Akkadian it is Šarru-kēn/Šarru-ukīn, 'the king is legitimate/true' or 'he (the god) has established the king.' The name recalls the famous ancient Sargon of Akkad.
- Against the English
All English versions keep 'Sargon.' Nothing is lost in translation, but most readers do not know who he was.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Isaiah 20:1 is the only biblical text that names him. Until the 1840s, when Paul-Émile Botta excavated Sargon's palace at Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin), this verse was almost the only ancient record of him outside a garbled entry in later king lists. Today his Annals, his 'Display' inscription and other texts are well known, and pieces of a victory stele he set up were found at Ashdod itself.
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
-
Isaiah 20:1 סַֽרְג֖וֹן Sargon
Before the year that the chief commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it,
Here: Sargon II of Assyria (ruled 722–705 BC), from Akkadian Šarru-kēn, roughly 'the king is legitimate.' This is the only place the Bible names him.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.