The Hebrew Bible, and then Christian and later Jewish sources, make frequent mention of one or more "destroying angels," which in Proverbs 16:14 are termed the "angels of death

Angels of Death

Angels of Death may refer to:* "Angels of Death" , by Hawkwind* Angels of Death , by Hawkwind* Angels of Death, an album by Representativz* Angels of Death, a study about outlaw motorcycle clubs by Julian Sher and William Marsden...

" (malake ha-mawet) "The wrath of a king [is as] messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it."

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

 includes the Destroyer (ha-mashḥit) who at the Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 in Exodus killed the firstborn of Egypt. Later a "destroying angel" (mal'ak ha-mashḥit) kills many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 24:15. While in the parallel passage in I Chronicles 21:15 the same "angel of the Lord" is seen by David to stand "between the earth and the heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out against Jerusalem." Later the angel of the Lord

Angel of the Lord

The Angel of the Lord is one of many terms in the Hebrew Bible used for an angel. The Biblical name for angel, מלאך mal'ach, which translates simply as "messenger," obtained the further signification of "angel" only through the addition of God's name, as The Angel of the Lord (or the Angel of...

 kills 185,000 men of Sennacherib

Sennacherib

Sennacherib |Sîn]] has replaced brothers for me"; Aramaic: ) was the son of Sargon II, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria .-Rise to power:...

's Assyrian army, thereby saving Hezekiah

Hezekiah

Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz and the 14th king of Judah. Edwin Thiele has concluded that his reign was between c. 715 and 686 BC. He is also one of the most prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible....

's Jerusalem in II Kings 19:35. A different term for "destroyer" (memitim) is found in Job 33:22