Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee. Sennacherib recognized Jehovah as a god, the God of the Jews, but put him on a par with the other "gods of the nations" (Isaiah 37:11), and. Tiglath-Pileser I.
calls himself " the conquering hero, the terror of whose name has overwhelmed all regions"; Asshur-izir-pal, "the king who subdued all the races of men"; Shalmaneser II; "the marcher over the whole world"; Shamas-Vul, "the trampler on the world" (ibid; vol.
1.12). Sargon says that "the gods had granted him the exercise of his sovereignty over all kings", and that he "reigned from the two beginnings to the two ends of the four celestial points", i.e. from the furthest north to the furthest south, and from the extreme cast to the extreme west.
Sennacherib himself says, "Aashur, father of the gods, among all kings firmly has raised me, and over all that dwell in the countries he caused to increase my weapons". From first to last, in their inscriptions, the monarchs claim a universal dominion.