They also went down to hell with him,.... To the grave with him; many of his nobles, princes, generals, soldiers, and subjects:unto them that be slain with the sword; to be buried and lie with them who had fallen by the sword, as a just punishment for their iniquities:and they that were his arm; either that leaned on his arm, were dependents upon him; or his ministers, his instruments, whom he employed under him as his deputies, to govern the several provinces that belonged to him; or rather his allies and auxiliaries, who helped and assisted him on occasion:that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Heathen; in the midst of the nations subject to the Assyrian empire; such who put themselves under the protection of it, lived comfortably under it, and continued with it to the last; these shared the same fate as that did.
The Targum is,"his governors are broken, whom he strengthened in the midst of the kingdom.'