The siege against Nineveh
2
📚He who dashes in pieces 📖 has come up before your face.
Guard the fortress! Watch the road!
Strengthen your flanks!
Muster all your strong forces!
2 📚For the LORD will restore
the excellence of Jacob,
like the excellence of Israel,
even though destroyers have
laid them waste,
and ruined their vine branches.
3 📚The shield of his mighty
men are red.
The valiant men are in scarlet.
The chariots will be with flaming
torches in the day of
his preparation,
and the fir tree spears will be
brandished.
4 📚The chariots will rage in the streets,
they shall jostle one another
in the broad roads.
They will seem like torches.
They will speed like lightning flashes.
5 📚He will remember his nobles.
They will stumble in their walk.
They will hurry to its wall,
and the defense will be prepared.
6 📚The river gates will be opened,
and the palace will be dissolved.
7 📚And Huzzab will be led away captive.
She will be brought up, and her maid
servants will lead her,
moaning with voices like doves,
beating their breasts.
8 📚From olden times Nineveh
is like a pool,
but her waters drain away.
“Stop! Stop!” they cry,
but no one will look back.
9 📚Take the plunder of silver,
take the plunder of gold.
For there is no end of treasure,
wealth from all kinds
of desirable articles.
10 📚She is empty, and vacant,
and waste. And the heart melts,
and the knees knock together,
and every back is in anguish,
and all their faces are drained
of colour.
2:3-10 These verses describe the battle for the city of Nineveh in 612 BC before it fell to its enemies. Nahum is uttering a prophecy that was fulfilled a few years afterwards.⚜
The destruction of Nineveh
11 📚Where is the dwelling place
of the lions,
and the feeding place of
the young lions,
where the lion, the old lion,
and the lion’s cub, walked,
and no one made them afraid?
12 📚The lion tore in pieces enough
for his cubs, and strangled
the prey for his lionesses,
and filled his caves with prey,
and his dens with flesh.
2:11-12 A description of Nineveh before its destruction. It was like the king of beasts breaking into pieces the nations round about. Now it would be done to Nineveh as Nineveh had done to others.⚜
13 📚“See, I am against you 📖”,
says the LORD of hosts,
“and I will 📖 burn her chariots
in the smoke,
and the sword will devour your
young lions.
And I will cut off your prey
from the earth,
and the voice of your messengers
will be heard no more”.