Nahum 2:1-10

A city under attack

1 A scatterer has come up against you. Guard the ramparts, watch the road, protect your groin, save your strength!

2 The LORD will restore the pride of Jacob, indeed, the pride of Israel, because ravagers have destroyed them and spoiled their branches.

3 The shields of his warriors are red; his soldiers are dressed in crimson. The ironwork of the chariots flashes like fire on the day he has prepared; the horses quiver.

4 The chariots race wildly through the streets; they rush back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart like bolts of lightning.

5 He musters his officers; they stumble as they press forward. They hurry to the city wall, and the portable shield is set up.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened; the palace melts.

7 It is decreed: She is sent into exile, carried away, while her female servants moan like doves, beating their breasts.

8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water. Such are its waters, and others are fleeing. "Stop, stop!"—but no one can turn them back.

9 Plunder silver! Plunder gold! There is no end to the supplies, an abundance of precious objects!

10 Destruction and devastation; the city is laid waste! The heart grows faint and knees buckle; there is anguish in every groin; all the faces grow 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Heb lacks your.
• [b] Heb uncertain
• [c] Heb uncertain