Rezeph

Rezeph was a town in northern Syria the Assyrians had subdued long before Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. The Rabshakeh's letter to Hezekiah listed Rezeph alongside Gozan, Haran, Tel-assar, Hamath, and Arpad as proof that no gods had ever delivered nations from Assyria (2 Kings 19:12, Isaiah 37:12). The site is identified with modern Rusafa (Sergiopolis) on the Syrian steppe between Palmyra and the Euphrates — a major caravan stop and Assyrian provincial center confirmed by cuneiform inscriptions. The biblical answer to the Assyrian boast came that night: "the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp" (Isaiah 37:36).