Nahum 2:1-8

1 The destroyer is risen up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

2 For the LORD shall restore the glory of Jacob as the glory of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out and marred their vine branches.

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.

8 And Nineveh was of old like a pool of water; but now they flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but no one looks back.

Nahum 2:1-8 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.