Nahum 2

The Divine Warrior Will Attack Nineveh

1 {One who shatters}^[a] has come up against you! Guard [the] fortification! Watch [the] road!^[b] Gird [your] loins! {Muster}^[c] all [your] strength!

2 For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob like the majesty of Israel; for ravagers have ravaged them and ruined [their] branches.

The Enemy Army Conquers the City of Nineveh

3 The shields of his warriors [are] dyed red; The powerful men [are] dressed in scarlet. The metal of the chariots^[d] [shines] like fire {on the day of battle},^[e] and [their] spears quiver.

4 The chariots^[f] race madly through the streets; they rush back and forth in the public squares. Their appearance like lightning bolts, they dart about like flashes of lightning.

5 He calls his officers; they stumble as they march; they rush to her wall; they set the covering^[g] in place.

6 The gates of the river are opened; the palace trembles.

7 {Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile};^[h] her maidservants moan like doves; they beat on their breasts.

8 Nineveh [is] like a pool of water without its water.^[i] {As they flee},^[j] [she cries,] "Stop! Stop!" But there is no one who turns back.

9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the spoils,^[k] an abundance of {everything one could want}!

10 Emptiness and plundering and devastation! Their hearts faint and their knees tremble, {All their loins shake} and all their faces {turn} pale.

The Divine Warrior Will Hunt down the Mighty Lions

11 Where [now] [is] the den of [the] lions and [the] cave of the fierce lions? There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once {prowled}, {and no one disturbed them}.

12 The lion tore apart enough [prey] for his cubs, he strangled [prey] for his lioness; he filled {his lair} [with] prey and his den [with] mangled carcass.

13 "Look! I am against you!" {declares} Yahweh of hosts. "I will burn her chariots {with fire}; the sword will devour fierce lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth; the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard."

Nahum 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

Nineveh's destruction foretold. (1-10) The true cause, their sinning against God, and his appearing against them. (11-13)

Verses 1-10 Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!

Verses 11-13 The kings of Assyria had long been terrible and cruel to their neighbours, but the Lord would destroy their power. Many plead as an excuse for rapine and fraud, that they have families to provide for; but what is thus obtained will never do them any good. Those that fear the Lord, and get honestly what they have, shall not want for themselves and theirs. It is just with God to deprive those of children, or of comfort in them, who take sinful courses to enrich them. Those are not worthy to be heard again, that have spoken reproachfully of God. Let us then come to God upon his mercy-seat, that having peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may know that he is for us, and that all things shall work together for our everlasting good.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "a shatterer"
• [b]. Or "way"
• [c]. Or "Collect"
• [d]. Hebrew "chariot"
• [e]. Literally "on the day of his preparation"
• [f]. Hebrew "chariot"
• [g]. The Hebrew word describes a small portable roof to protect siege warriors from arrows and debris hurled at them from the fortified city wall
• [h]. Literally "It is decreed [that] she be exiled [and] led away." MT reads the very enigmatic "And he is placed, she is sent into exile, she is taken up." The BHS editors suggest the conjectural emendation "And her goddess [= the idol of the patron deity of Nineveh] is taken and taken into exile." This is adopted in the translation on the basis of internal evidence
• [i]. MT reads "from her days." Greek LXX and Syriac Peshitta reflect "from her waters"
• [j]. Literally "And they flee away"
• [k]. Literally "the supply"
• [l]. Literally "every kind of desirable object"
• [m]. Or "totter"
• [n]. Literally "And shaking of all loins"
• [o]. Literally "gather"
• [p]. Literally "went"
• [q]. Literally "there [is] no one making [them] afraid"
• [r]. Literally "his holes"
• [s]. Literally "a declaration of"
• [t]. Literally "with smoke"

Chapter Summary

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.