ישעיהו, פרק ל״ז, פסוק י״ב

The Assyrian empire stands at the absolute peak of its power. Sennacherib and the dynasty of kings who ruled before him have steadily conquered numerous lands. Fueled by this deep sense of superiority, a defiant rhetorical question is presented: did the gods of the other nations ever manage to save the people that the Assyrian ancestors destroyed? [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

To illustrate this unbroken streak of victories, a list of conquered regions and kingdoms is detailed. These include Gozan, identified as a place in northern Mesopotamia, and Haran, a city well known from the Torah. Another fallen city is Rezeph; although several cities carried this name, the reference is to a specific location within that same geographic area. The conquests also reached a kingdom or region in Assyria known as Eden, as mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel [רש״י, שד״ל]. This kingdom should not be confused with another place of the identical name located near Damascus [שד״ל]. Finally, the path of conquest includes Telassar, whose geographic identity remains a mystery and is entirely unknown to us today [שד״ל].