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 ) .