Nahum 2:1-10

Attack against Nineveh

1 One who scatters is coming up against you. Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace^[a] yourself! Summon all your strength!^[b]

2 For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, yes,^[c] the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their vine branches.^[d]

3 The shields of his^[e] warriors are dyed red; the valiant men are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariot flash like fire on the day of its [battle] preparations, and the spears are brandished.

4 The chariots dash madly through the streets; they rush around in the plazas. They look like torches; they dart back and forth like lightning.

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^[f] is stripped,^[g] she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves,^[h] and beat their breasts.

8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her [first] days,^[i] 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.^[j]

10 Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, loins shake, every face grows pale!^[k]

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] Lit Strengthen
• [b] Am 2:14
• [c] Or like
• [d] Jr 12:10
• [e] the army commander attacking Nineveh
• [f] Text emended; MT reads Huzzab
• [g] Hb obscure
• [h] Isa 38:14; 59:11
• [i] Hb obscure
• [j] 2 Ch 32:27; 36:10; Dn 11:8
• [k] Isa 21:3; Jl 2:6