Nahum 2:1-7

Nineveh to Fall

1 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!

2 The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.

3 The shields of the soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of juniper are brandished.^[a]

4 The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.

5 Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place.

6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

7 It is decreed^[b] that Nineveh be exiled and carried away. Her female slaves moan like doves and beat on their breasts.

Nahum 2:1-7 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
• 2. S Ezekiel 37:23
• 3. Isaiah 60:15
• 4. S Ezekiel 23:14-15
• 5. S Jeremiah 4:13; S Ezekiel 23:24
• 6. Jeremiah 46:12
• 7. Isaiah 45:1; Nahum 3:13
• 8. S Genesis 8:8; S Isaiah 59:11
• 9. Isaiah 32:12

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac "ready;" / "the horsemen rush to and fro" .
• [b]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.