Lachish
A major fortified city of the Judean lowlands, second in importance to Jerusalem. Sennacherib besieged and took it in 701 BC, a campaign he commemorated in relief carvings at Nineveh, and it fell again to Babylon shortly before Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:14; Jeremiah 34:7).
Where in scripture
Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, “I have offended you. Return from me. That which you put on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
2 Kings 18:14 — cited in the description of Lachish
when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.
Jeremiah 34:7 — cited in the description of Lachish
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
What we know — and how we know it
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
ArchaeologySennacherib carved the siege of Lachish across a wall of his palace, and the Assyrian siege-ramp, the arrowheads and the destruction are all found at the site.
