Nahum 2:1-10

1 He that dasheth in pieces ^[a] is come up against thy face: keep the fortress, watch the way, make [thy] loins strong, fortify [thy] power mightily.

2 For Jehovah hath brought again ^[b] the glory of Jacob, as the glory of Israel; ^[c] for the wasters have wasted them, and marred their vine-branches.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots [glitter] with the sheen of steel, in the day of his preparation, and the spears are brandished.

4 The chariots rush madly in the streets, they justle one against another in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches, they run like lightnings.

5 He bethinketh him of his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the shelter is prepared.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melteth away.

7 And it is decreed: she shall be uncovered, she shall be led away, and her maids shall moan as with the voice of doves, drumming upon their breasts.

8 Nineveh hath been like a pool of water, since the day she existed, yet they flee away. ... Stand! Stand! But none looketh back.

9 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold; for there is no end of the splendid store of all precious vessels.

10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and writhing pain is in all loins, and all their 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] Or 'The maul.'
• [b] Or 'hath returned to.'
• [c] Or 'hath turned away the pride of Jacob as the pride of Israel.'
• [d] Or 'the emptiers have emptied them out.'
• [e] i.e. of Jehovah, who sends them to besiege Nineveh.
• [f] Lit. 'fire.'
• [g] Lit. 'cypresses.'
• [h] Shelter for the besieged.
• [i] i.e. Nineveh.
• [j] Lit. 'hearts.'