אַשּׁוּר

From the study of Isaiah 36:1

Range of meaning

The name of the god Ashur, of his city on the Tigris, and of the land and empire. In the Hebrew Bible it most often means the Assyrian Empire or its king acting for it.

Against the English

'Assyria' (most versions), 'Asshur' (YLT). In English the name is only geographical, but for an Assyrian it also named the god in whose service the king went to war.

Used elsewhere in the period

Assyrian royal inscriptions regularly say that kings campaigned 'at the command of Ashur my lord'. Isaiah's own oracles call Assyria 'the rod of my anger' (Isa 10:5) and promise its arrogance will be punished (10:12–19).

From the study of Ezekiel 31:3

Range of meaning

The name of the god Asshur, his city, and the empire of Assyria. In poetry it can stand for the Assyrian king or people. A different word, teʾaššûr (Isa 41:19; 60:13), names a tree, perhaps a cypress or box tree.

Against the English

BSB 'Assyria' and KJV/WEB 'the Assyrian' keep the Hebrew as it stands. Some modern versions emend it to a tree, or soften it into a comparison ('you are like Assyria'). Others keep 'Assyria' and make it an example.

Used elsewhere in the period

Assyria fell in stages: Nineveh in 612 BC, Harran in 610–609, and the last Assyrian-Egyptian forces at Carchemish in 605 (Babylonian Chronicle). Isaiah had already used tree-felling imagery of Assyria's arrogance (Isa 10:15–19, 33–34) and quoted the Assyrian king boasting that he cut down Lebanon's tallest cedars (Isa 37:24).

From the study of Isaiah 11:16

Range of meaning

The name of the god Ashur, his city, and the Mesopotamian empire ruled from there. In Isaiah, Assyria is the great superpower of the 8th century BC and the 'rod of [God's] anger' (10:5). It is also an arrogant tyrant that will itself be judged (10:12–19).

Against the English

Translations agree on the name. They differ on where 'from Assyria' attaches: to the remnant ('who remain from Assyria', BSB, KJV, WEB) or to the road ('a highway from Assyria', as in some modern versions).

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Kgs 15:29 and 17:6 record Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V/Sargon II deporting Israelites to 'Halah, Habor ... and the cities of the Medes'. Sargon's inscriptions claim 27,290 deportees from Samaria. Isa 19:23–25 imagines a highway linking Egypt and Assyria with Israel as 'a blessing in the midst of the earth'.