Nahum 2:10

10 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

Nahum 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 2:10

She is empty, and void, and waste
The city of Nineveh, empty of inhabitants, being killed, or having fled; and stripped of all its treasures and riches by the enemies; its walls and houses demolished and pulled down, and laid in ruins, and become a heap of rubbish; (See Gill on Nahum 1:8). Various words are here used to ascertain and confirm the thing; and there is an elegant play on words or likeness of sounds, which our language will not express: and the heart melteth;
the heart of every inhabitant of Nineveh melted with fear at the approach of their enemies, their entrance into the city, and plunder of it; flowed like water, or melted like wax; see ( Psalms 22:14 ) : and the knees smite together;
like people in a fright, and when a panic has seized them; and as it was with Belshazzar, ( Daniel 5:6 ) : and much pain [is] in all loins;
like that of women in travail; or of persons in a sudden fright, which gives them a pain in their backs at once: and the faces of them all gather blackness;
like a pot, as the Targum adds; being in great distress and disconsolation, which make men appear in a dismal hue, and their countenances look very dark and gloomy; see ( Joel 2:6 ) .

Nahum 2:10 In-Context

8 But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one looks back.
9 Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
10 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's cubs, and no one made them afraid?
12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.