The Overthrow of Nineveh
1The one who ascatters has come up against you Nineveh.Man the fortress and ramparts, watch the road;2Strengthen your back prepare for battle, summon all your strength.Nahum begins his message to Nineveh with a brief sarcastic statement (v 1) referring to the Medes, the Babylonians, and the Scythians who were allied against Assyria.Lit Make strong your loins.Jer 51:20-232 For the LORD will restore the asplendor and majesty of JacobbLike the splendor of ancient and united Israel,Even though destroyers have destroyed themAnd cruined their vine branches. Is 10:12Is 60:15Ezek 37:21-23Ps 80:12, 13
3 The shields of his soldiers of 1Media and Babylon are colored red;The warriors are dressed in ascarlet.The chariots blaze with fire of flashing steelWhen he is prepared to march,And the cypress bspears are brandished for battle.The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the area that is now the northwestern part of modern day Iran. After they joined with the Chaldeans of Babylonia to defeat the Assyrians, they established their own empire. It was the largest empire of its day until Cyrus the Great united the Medes and the Persians to form the Archaemenid Empire which stretched over several million square miles.Ezek 23:14, 15Job 39:234 The achariots race madly in the streets;They rush wildly in the broad plazas.Their appearance is like torches;They rush in various directions like forked lightning.Is 66:15; Jer 4:13; Ezek 26:10; Nah 3:2, 35 1He remembers and summons his anobles;They bstumble in their march terrified because of the attack.They hurry to the city wall,And the 2mantelet is prepared and firmly set up.Perhaps the Assyrian king.A large shield or portable shelter used for deflecting stones, spears and arrows.Nah 3:18Jer 46:126 The gates of the rivers surrounding Nineveh are openedAnd the palace of sun-dried brick is dissolved by the torrents.7 It is decreed:Nineveh is stripped, and she is carried away,And her handmaids are amoaning like the sound of doves,bBeating on their breasts in sorrow.Is 38:14; 59:11Is 32:12
8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,Now her inhabitants are fleeing;“Stop! Stop!” a few cry,But ano one turns back.Jer 46:5; 47:39 Plunder the silver!Plunder the agold!For there is no end to the treasure—Wealth from every precious object.Rev 18:12, 1610 aShe is emptied! She is desolate and waste!bHearts melting in fear and knees knocking!Anguish is in the whole body,And the cfaces of all grow pale! Is 13:7, 8Is 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 lions And the feeding place of the ayoung lions,Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowledWith nothing to fear?Is 5:2912 The lion of Assyria tore enough for his cubs ,Killed enough prey for his lionesses,And filled his lairs with preyAnd his dens with torn flesh.
13 “Behold, aI am against you Nineveh,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and I will bburn your chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will ccut off your prey from the land, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”Jer 21:13; Ezek 5:8; Nah 3:5Josh 11:6, 9; Ps 46:9Is 49:24, 25; Nah 3:1