Nahum 2:1-10

1 Come up hath a scatterer to thy face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.

2 For turned back hath Jehovah to the excellency of Jacob, As [to] the excellency of Israel, For emptied them out have emptiers, And their branches they have marred.

3 The shield of his mighty ones is become red, Men of might [are in] scarlet, With fiery torches [is] the chariot in a day of his preparation, And the firs have been caused to tremble.

4 In out-places shine do the chariots, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.

5 He doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten [to] its wall, and prepared is the covering.

6 Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.

7 And it is established -- she hath removed, She hath been brought up, And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, Tabering on their hearts.

8 And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is] -- and they are fleeing! `Stand ye, stand;' and none is turning!

9 Seize ye silver, seize ye gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.

10 She is empty, yea, emptiness and waste, And the heart hath melted, And the knees have smitten together, And great pain [is] in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.

Nahum 2:1-10 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.