Nahum 2:1-10

The Overthrow of Nineveh

1 ^[a]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.

9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the ¹³gold! For there is no limit to the treasure - Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

10 She is ¹⁴emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! ¹⁵Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body And all their ¹⁶faces are grown pale!

Nahum 2:1-10 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.

Cross References

• 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
• 13. Revelation 18:12, 16
• 14. Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 34:10-13; Nahum 2:2
• 15. Psalms 22:14; Isaiah 13:7, 8; Ezekiel 21:7
• 16. Joel 2:6

Footnotes

• [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"
• [k]. Lit "all the loin"