First light at a great gateway of Nineveh: the vast mud-brick wall, the carved stone winged bulls of the gate worn and turned away, the heavy doors thrown open, river water lying in the passage, a thin smoke.

Nineveh falls

Nahum 2

Everything we build to keep ourselves safe can fall in one morning.

13 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1The LORD avengesAssyria’s last years, between 663 and 612 BC
2Nineveh fallsThe river gates open; the lions’ den is emptyChapter 2
3Woe to the city of bloodNo better than Thebes, and no healing

The Overthrow of Nineveh

Nahum

Dusk on the flat walkway atop Nineveh’s mud-brick wall: three Assyrian soldiers seen from behind look out over a road across the plain, a long smudge of dust rising on it far off.

One who scatters advances

against you, O Nineveh.

Guard the fortress!

Watch the road!

Brace yourselves!

Summon all your strength!

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Nahum

For 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.

Nahum 2:2

Nahum

Nahum

The 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.

Nahum

He summons his nobles;

they stumble as they advance.

They race to its wall;

the protective shield is set in place.

Nahum

Gray morning where a canal enters Nineveh: a water gate in the great mud-brick wall stands broken open, brown river water pouring through in a torrent, the edge of a palace platform beyond slumping into mud.

The river gates are thrown open

and the palace collapses.

Question

Quick question

In the middle of the siege, Nahum stops to give a reason. Read verse 2 again before you answer.

What hope does verse 2 give Judah in the middle of Nineveh’s fall?

Nahum

Nahum

It is decreed that the city be exiled

and carried away;

her maidservants moan like doves,

and beat upon their breasts.

Nahum

A great stone-edged pool in a royal garden of Nineveh half emptied: the water running out through a breach at one end, mud and stranded reeds showing, palms and a palace platform beyond.

Nineveh 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.

Nahum

Nahum

“Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!”

There is no end to the treasure,

an abundance of every precious thing.

Nahum

She is emptied!

Yes, she is desolate and laid waste!

Hearts melt, knees knock,

bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

Nahum

Dusk in a rocky ravine: the mouth of a lion’s den under an overhang, its earth floor worn smooth, empty and silent, dry grass bending in the wind.

Where 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?

Nahum

The 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.

God

Gray morning in a palace yard of Nineveh: the charred car and two blackened spoked wheels of a chariot lying in ash, thin smoke rising, the great wall beyond.

“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.”

0:16

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

LORD of Hosts, no fortress stands when You are against it. Keep me from trusting walls and treasure, and restore what destroyers have stripped. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Nahum 2

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A verse to carry with you

For 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.

Nahum 2:2

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