Parricide

The murder of a parent appears in scripture in a single, repeated episode: the death of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, at the hands of his own sons. The same incident is recorded three times — in Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah — each version naming the killing by a different angle.

Sennacherib in the House of Nisroch

The killing happens at the moment of pagan worship. Kings reports it directly: "And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead" (2Ki 19:37). The setting is precise — the king is in the temple of his god — and the sword falls in that posture.

Sons Identified

Isaiah's account adds the relationship that makes the act parricide: "as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead" (Isa 37:38). The two strikers are not named conspirators but the king's own sons; a third son, Esar-haddon, takes the throne in his stead.

"Those Who Came Forth From Inside Him"

Chronicles compresses the story but keeps the parental note in its bluntest form: "when he came into the house of his god, those who came forth from inside him slew him there with the sword" (2Ch 32:21). The phrase "those who came forth from inside him" specifies the killers as his own offspring — the same act, told as a closing of the circle: he is killed by what came out of him, in the house of the god he came home to.