Nahum 2:7

7 Beauty^[a] is stripped,^[b] she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves,^[c] and beat their breasts.

Nahum 2:7 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 2:7

And Huzzab shall be led away captive
The Targum translates it the queen; and Jarchi and Aben Ezra, after R. Samuel, take it to be the name of the queen of Assyria; so called, as every queen might, from her standing at the king's right hand, ( Psalms 45:9 ) who, when the royal palace was destroyed, was taken out, and carried captive with the rest, who before was in a well settled and tranquil state and condition: or perhaps the king himself is designed, who may be represented as a woman, as follows, for his effeminacy; conversing only with women; imitating their voice; wearing their apparel; and doing their work, spinning which is the character historians ^F12 give of the last king of the Assyrians: some ^F13 take it to be the idol Venus, worshipped by the Ninevites: though it may be meant either of the palace itself, as Kimchi's father, which was firm and well established; or rather Nineveh itself, thought to be stable and secure, the inhabitants of which should be carried into a strange land: she shall be brought up;
the queen, or the king, out of the palace or private retirement, where they were in peace and safety; or Nineveh, and the inhabitants of it, out of their secure state and condition: and her maids shall lead [her];
her maids of honour, supporting her on the right hand and left, ready to sink and faint under her misfortunes: this may also be understood of towns and villages, and the inhabitants of them, that should go into captivity along with Nineveh: as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts;
mourning like doves, inwardly and secretly, not daring to express their sorrow more publicly, because of their enemies; but knocking and beating upon their breasts, as men do upon tabrets or drums, thereby expressing the inward grief of their minds; see ( Ezekiel 7:16 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. p. 109, 110.
F13 Gebhardus apud Burkium in loc.

Nahum 2:7 In-Context

5 He gives orders to his officers; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

6 The river gates are opened, and the palace erodes away.

7 Beauty is stripped, she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves, and beat their breasts.

8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her [first] days, but they are fleeing. "Stop! Stop!" [they cry,] but no one turns back.

9 "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

Footnotes

• [a] Text emended; MT reads Huzzab
• [b] Hb obscure
• [c] Isa 38:14; 59:11