Nahum 2

1 The one who will scatter you is coming to attack you. Guard your fortress! Keep a lookout on the road! Prepare for battle! Be very courageous!

2 The LORD will restore Jacob's glory like Israel's glory, although enemies have looted it and have destroyed its vines.

3 The shields of his warriors are painted red. His soldiers have red uniforms. The metal on his chariots flashes fiery red, so do the spears when they are waved on the day he prepares for battle.

4 Chariots are racing madly through the streets, rushing this way and that in the city squares. They look like torches, like lightning, as they dart about.

5 He remembers his best fighting men. They stumble over themselves as they march. They hurry to Nineveh's wall. The shield has been set up for the battering ram.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melts away.

7 The LORD has determined: "It will be stripped. It will be carried away. Its young women will be mourning like doves as they beat their breasts."

8 Nineveh was like a pool of water from its first day on. But now its people are fleeing. "Stop! Stop!" But no one turns around.

9 Steal the silver! Steal the gold! There is no end to what is stored here-- everything a person could ever want.

10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, demolished. Hearts are melting. Knees are knocking. Every stomach becomes upset. Every face turns pale.

11 Where is the lions' den, that feeding place for young lions? Where are the lion, the lioness, and the lion cub who moved about with no one to terrify them?

12 The lion tore its prey to pieces to feed its cubs. It strangled [the prey] for its mates. It used to fill its caves with torn carcasses and its dens with torn flesh.

13 "I am against you, Nineveh," declares the LORD of Armies. "I will send your chariots up in smoke, and a sword will kill your young lions. I will remove your prey from the earth, and no one will ever hear the voice of your messengers again."

Nahum 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

Nineveh's destruction foretold. (1-10) The true cause, their sinning against God, and his appearing against them. (11-13)

Verses 1-10 Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!

Verses 11-13 The kings of Assyria had long been terrible and cruel to their neighbours, but the Lord would destroy their power. Many plead as an excuse for rapine and fraud, that they have families to provide for; but what is thus obtained will never do them any good. Those that fear the Lord, and get honestly what they have, shall not want for themselves and theirs. It is just with God to deprive those of children, or of comfort in them, who take sinful courses to enrich them. Those are not worthy to be heard again, that have spoken reproachfully of God. Let us then come to God upon his mercy-seat, that having peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may know that he is for us, and that all things shall work together for our everlasting good.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM 2

This chapter gives an account of the destruction of the city of Nineveh; describes the instruments of it as very terrible and powerful, and not to be resisted, Na 2:1-4. The manner of taking it, the flight of its inhabitants, and the spoil of its riches and treasures, Na 2:5-10 and the king and the princes thereof, compared to a lion, and a lion's whelp, are insulted as being without a den or dwelling place, because of their cruelty and ravening, for which the Lord was against them, and threatened them with utter ruin, which he brought upon them, Na 2:11-13.