Nahum 2

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

An attacker advances against Nineveh, prompting the city to guard its fortress and prepare for battle while the Lord restores the splendor of Jacob. The attacking warriors wear red and scarlet, their chariots flash like fire with brandished cypress spears, and they rush wildly through the city streets and plazas. Nobles stumble as they advance to the wall while the river gates open and the palace collapses. The city is exiled and its maidservants moan, while draining away like a pool despite cries to stop. Captors plunder endless silver and gold, leaving the city emptied, desolate, and filled with trembling inhabitants whose physical bodies melt in fear. The text recalls Nineveh's former dominance as a lion's lair before the Lord declares opposition against the city, promising to burn its chariots, consume its young lions with the sword, and silence its messengers.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength! ²For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine. ³The shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished. ⁴The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning. ⁵He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place. ⁶The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. ⁷It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts. ⁸Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back. ⁹“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing. ¹⁰She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale! ¹¹Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away? ¹²The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey. ¹³“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.