Assyrian God Nisroch

Illustration Depicting Nisroch, with Eagle's Head

The Assyrian god Nisroch was depicted as an eagle-headed diety with wings and exaggerated muscles. In this sculptured relief from Nineveh he is sprinkling the sacred tree with water. He is holding a water vessel in his left hand and a fir cone (sponge) in his right.

It was to this god that Sennacherib, king of Assyria was praying when he returned from his campaigns in Israel. The previous verse reveals that the Angel of the Lord routed the Assyrian army.

"So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead."
2 Kings 19:36-37

The "Idol" is mentioned throughout the Bible

Isaiah 48:5 - I have even from the beginning declared [it] to thee; before it came to pass I shewed [it] thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

2 Chronicles 33:15 - And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast [them] out of the city.

Isaiah 66:3 - He that killeth an ox [is as if] he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, [as if] he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, [as if he offered] swine's blood; he that burneth incense, [as if] he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

1 Corinthians 10:19 - What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?

2 Chronicles 33:7 - And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

Jeremiah 22:28 - [Is] this man Coniah a despised broken idol? [is he] a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

Acts 7:41 - And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

1 Corinthians 8:4 - As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol [is] nothing in the world, and that [there is] none other God but one.

1 Corinthians 8:7 - Howbeit [there is] not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat [it] as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

2 Chronicles 15:16 - And also [concerning] Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped [it], and burnt [it] at the brook Kidron.

1 Kings 15:13 - And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt [it] by the brook Kidron.