Nahum 2:1-8

The Overthrow of Nineveh

1 The one who ¹scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; Strengthen your back, summon all your strength.

2 For the LORD will restore the ²splendor of Jacob ³Like the splendor of Israel, Even though devastators have devastated them And ⁴destroyed their vine branches.

3 The shields of his mighty men are colored red, The warriors are dressed in ⁵scarlet, The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the cypress ⁶spears are brandished.

4 The ⁷chariots race madly in the streets, They rush wildly in the squares, Their appearance is like torches, They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

5 He remembers his ⁸nobles; They ⁹stumble in their march, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace is dissolved.

7 It is fixed: She is stripped, she is carried away, And her handmaids are ¹⁰moaning like the sound of doves, ¹¹Beating on their breasts.

8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Now they are fleeing; "Stop, stop," But ¹²no one turns back.

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Nahum 2:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. Jeremiah 51:20-23
2. Isaiah 60:15
3. Ezekiel 37:21-23
4. Psalms 80:12, 13
5. Ezekiel 23:14, 15
6. Job 39:23
7. Isaiah 66:15; Jeremiah 4:13; Ezekiel 26:10; Nahum 3:2, 3
8. Nahum 3:18
9. Jeremiah 46:12
10. Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 59:11
11. Isaiah 32:12
12. Jeremiah 46:5; Jeremiah 47:3

Footnotes 10

[a]. Ch 2:2 in Heb
[b]. Lit "your face"
[c]. Lit "Make strong your loins"
[d]. Lit "strengthen power greatly"
[e]. I.e. those attacking Nineveh
[f]. Lit "fire of steel"
[g]. Lit "On the day of his preparation"
[h]. Lit "broad places"
[i]. Lit "covering" used in a siege
[j]. Lit "hearts"