Nahum 2:5

5 He shall remember his valiant ones; they shall stumble in their walk when they make haste to their wall, and the covering shall be prepared.

Nahum 2:5 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 2:5

He shall recount his worthies
Either the dasher in pieces, ( Nahum 2:1 ) , the kings of Babylon and Media, shall call together their general officers, and muster the forces under then, and put them in mind of their duty, and recount the actions of their ancestors in former times, in order to animate and encourage them to the siege and attack of the city of Nineveh; or the king of Assyria shall recount and muster up his nobles, and the troops under them, to sally out against the enemy, and meet him in the field, and give him battle: they shall stumble in their walk:
being many, and in haste to obey the orders of their commander, shall stumble and fall upon one another; or else the Ninevites in their march out against the enemy shall be discomfited and flee before him, or be dispirited and flee back again: they shall make haste to the wall thereof;
of Nineveh; that is, the Medes and Chaldeans shall make haste thither, to break it down or scale it; or the Ninevites, failing in their sally out, shall betake themselves in all haste to their city walls, and defend themselves under the protection of them: and the defence shall be prepared;
or the "covering": the word F8 used has the signification of a booth or tent, to cover and protect; here it signifies something that was prepared, either by the besiegers, to cover them from the darts and stones of the besieged, as they made their approaches to the walls; or which the besieged covered themselves with from the assaults of the besiegers; rather the former.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Kkwoh) "operimentum", Pagninus, Montanus; "integumentum", Calvin; "testudo", Vatablus, Grotius, Cocceius, Burkius.

Nahum 2:5 In-Context

3 The shield of his valiant ones shall be red, the men of his army are in scarlet, the chariot as fire of torches in the day which shall be made ready; the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
4 The chariots shall rage in the streets; they shall flow through the streets, their faces like torches; they shall run like the lightnings.
5 He shall remember his valiant ones; they shall stumble in their walk when they make haste to their wall, and the covering shall be prepared.
6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be destroyed.
7 And the queen shall be taken captive; they shall order her to go up, and her maids shall take her, mourning as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010