Yahweh’s Destruction of Nineveh
1The one who ascatters has come up against 2you.Guard the fortification, watch the road;Strengthen your loins, 3instill your power with exceeding courage.Ch 2:2 in HebLit your faceOr make your power courageousJer 51:20-232 For Yahweh will restore the amajesty of JacobbLike the majesty of Israel,Even though those who empty them have emptied them to destructionAnd cruined their vine branches.Is 60:15Ezek 37:21-23Ps 80:12, 13
3 The shields of 1his mighty men are colored red,The valiant men are dressed in a2scarlet,The chariots are enveloped in 3flashing steel4When he is set up to march,And the cypress bspears are brandished.Those attacking NinevehOr crimson, cf. Lam 4:5Lit fire of steelLit On the day of his preparationEzek 23:14, 15Job 39:234 The achariots race madly in the streets;They rush wildly in the 1squares;Their appearance is like torches;They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.Lit broad placesIs 66:15; Jer 4:13; Ezek 26:10; Nah 3:2, 35 He remembers his amighty ones;They bstumble in their march;They hurry to her wall,And the 1mantelet is set up.Lit covering (used in a siege)Nah 3:18Jer 46:126 The gates of the rivers are opened,And the palace is melted away.7 So it stands fixed:She is exiled, she is carried away,And her maidservants are amoaning like the sound of doves,bBeating on their hearts.Is 38:14; 59:11Is 32:12
8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,Now they are fleeing;“Stand! Stand!”But ano one 1turns back.Lit gathersJer 46:5; 47:39 Plunder the silver!Plunder the agold!And there is no limit to the treasure—1Wealth from every kind of desirable object.Lit GloryRev 18:12, 1610 She is aemptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated!bHearts are melting and knees knocking!Also anguish is in all their loins,And all their cfaces 1turn pale!Lit gather their radianceIs 24:1; 34:10-13; Nah 2:2Ps 22:14; Is 13:7, 8; Ezek 21:7Joel 2:611 Where is the den of the lionsAnd the feeding place of the ayoung lions,Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled,With nothing to make them tremble?Is 5:2912 The lion tore enough for its cubsAnd strangled enough for its lionessesAnd filled its lairs with torn up preyAnd its dens with torn up flesh.
13 “Behold, aI am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts. “And I will bburn up her chariots in smoke, and a sword will devour your young lions; and I will ccut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”Jer 21:13; Ezek 5:8; Nah 3:5Josh 11:6, 9; Ps 46:9Is 49:24, 25; Nah 3:1