the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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New Living Translation
Nahum 2:1
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An enemy is coming to attack you, so guard the strong places of your city. Watch the road. Get ready for war. Prepare for battle!
The one who scatters has come up against you. Keep watch over the fortress, watch the road; Bind up your waist, summon all your strength.
The destroyer is coming to attack you, Nineveh. Guard the defenses. Watch the road. Get ready. Gather all your strength!
He that dashes in pieces has come up against you: keep the fortress, watch the way, make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily.
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make [thy] loins strong, fortify [thy] power mightily.
The one who scatters has come up against you [Nineveh]. Man the fortress and ramparts, watch the road; Strengthen your back [prepare for battle], summon all your strength.
The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength.
He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your loins! Fortify your power mightily!
He stiede up, that schal scatere bifore thee, that schal kepe bisechyng; biholde thou the weie, coumforte leendis, strengthe thou vertu greetli.
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength!
Nineveh, someone is coming to attack and scatter you. Guard your fortresses! Watch the road! Be brave! Prepare for battle!
He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
A crusher has come up before your face: keep a good look-out, let the way be watched, make yourself strong, let your power be greatly increased.
Look! On the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, proclaiming shalom. Keep your festivals, Y'hudah, fulfill your vows; for B'liya‘al will never pass through you again; he has been completely destroyed.
He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thy face: keep the fortress, watch the way, make [thy] loins strong, fortify [thy] power mightily.
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that announceth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way: make thy loines strong: fortifie thy power mightily.
The one who destroys has come against you, O Nineveh. Put men on the battle-walls. Watch the road. Be strong. Be ready for battle.
A shatterer has come up against you. Guard the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.
The destroyer is come before thy face: keepe the munition: looke to the way: make thy loynes strong: increase thy strength mightily.
A RULER has come up against you who keeps a watch, guards the road, and girds loins; whose strength is exceedingly great.
He that breaketh in pieces hath come up over thy face, Keep the keeps, - watch the way, brace the loins, make vigour very firm.
He is come up that shall destroy before thy face, that shall keep the siege: watch the way, fortify thy loins, strengthen thy power exceedingly.
The shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.
The destroyer is come vp before thy face, kepe thy forte, see to the way, strenghten [thy] loynes, increase [thy] strength mightyly:
It is all over with him, he has been removed, one who has been delivered from affliction has come up panting into thy presence, watch the way, strengthen thy loins, be very valiant in thy strength.
Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Prepare the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle!
One who scatters is coming up against you.
He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your loins! Fortify your power mightily!
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
One who shatters has come up against you! Guard the fortification! Watch the road! Gird your loins! Muster all your strength!
The one scattering is coming up against your face. Guard the rampart; watch the way; make the loins strong, firm up your power exceedingly.
Come up hath a scatterer to thy face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.
The scaterer shal come vp agaynst the, & laye sege to the castell. Loke thou wel to the stretes, make thy loynes stronge, arme thy self with all thy myght:
The juggernaut's coming! Post guards, lay in supplies. Get yourselves together, get ready for the big battle.
The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!"
He who scatters [fn] has come up before your face.Man the fort!Watch the road!Strengthen your flanks!Fortify your power mightily.
The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; Strengthen your back, summon all your strength.
The one who scatters has come up against you.Guard the fortification, watch the road;Strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
He that dasheth in pieces: or, The disperser, or, hammer, Isaiah 14:6, Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 50:23, Jeremiah 51:20-23
keep: Nahum 3:14, Nahum 3:15, 2 Chronicles 25:8, Jeremiah 46:3-10, Jeremiah 51:11, Jeremiah 51:12, Joel 3:9-11
Reciprocal: Isaiah 13:18 - shall dash Jonah 1:2 - Nineveh Micah 7:10 - she that Nahum 3:11 - thou also Zephaniah 3:6 - cut
Cross-References
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God called the dry ground "land" and the waters "seas." And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil.
Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.
The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found.
The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.'"
Gill's Notes on the Bible
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face,.... O Nineveh, or land of Assyria; for this is not to be understood of Sennacherib's coming up against Jerusalem, as Kimchi; but of Nebuchadnezzar against Nineveh, as Aben Ezra; not Nebuchadnezzar the great, who, the Jewish chronologers say c, took Nineveh in the first year of his reign; but his father, Nebuchadnezzar the first, called Nabopolassar, who, with Cyaxares or Ahasuerus the Mede, joined their forces against Nineveh, and took it, see the Apocrypha:
"But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve.'' (Tobit 14:15)
and these together, the Chaldeans and Medes, are the "dasher in pieces"; or, "the hammer" d, as the word may be rendered; and so Babylon, over which one of these kings reigned, is called the hammer of the whole earth, Jeremiah 50:23 these came up openly, boldly, to the face of the king of Assyria, attacked him in his metropolis, not fearing his strength and numbers:
keep the munition; this and what follow are spoken ironically to the Assyrian king, and inhabitants of Nineveh, to take care of their towers and garrisons, and fortify them, and fill them with soldiers: and
watch the way; in which the enemy came; secure the passes and avenues that lead to their city; stop his march, and prevent his access:
make [thy] loins strong; put on armour, gird on the sword, prepare for war:
fortify [thy] power mightily; increase thine army, exert all thy strength and courage, and do all that is in thy power to do, to oppose the enemy, and defend thyself; and when all is done, it will be in vain.
c Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24. p. 69. d מפיץ "malleus", Drusius, Tarnovius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
He that dasheth in pieces - Rather, “the Disperser,” the instrument of God, whereby he should “break her in pieces like a potter’s vessel, or should scatter” her in all lands, is come up against thy face, O Nineveh, i. e., either, over against thee” , confronting her as it were, face to face, or directed against thee . From the description of the peace of Judah, the prophet turns suddenly to her oppressor, to whom, not to Judah, the rest of the prophecy is directed. Jacob and Israel are spoken of, not to . The destroyer of Nineveh “went up against the face of Nineveh,” not in the presence of Judah and Jacob, who were far away and knew nothing of it. “Keep the munition.” While all in Judah is now peace, all in Nineveh is tumult. God whom they had defied, saying that Hezekiah could not “turn away the face of one captain of the least of his servants” Isaiah 36:9, now bids them prepare to meet him whom He would send against them. “Gird up thy loins now, like a man” Job 40:7. Thou who wouldest lay waste others, now, if theft canst, keep thyself. The strength of the words is the measure of the irony. They had challenged God; He in turn challenges them to put forth all their might.
Fence thy defenses - we might say. Their strong walls, high though they were, unassailable by any then known skill of besiegers, would not be secure.
The prophet uses a kindred and allusive word, that their protection needed to be itself protected; and this, by one continued watchfulness. Watch, he adds, the way: spy out (as far as thou canst), the coming of the enemy; strengthen the loins, the seat of strength. Elsewhere they are said to be girded up for any exertion. “Fortify thy strength exceedingly.” The expression is rare : commonly it is said of some part of the human frame, knees, arms, or mind, or of man by God.
The same words are strong mockery to those who resist God, good counsel to those who trust in God. “Keep the munition, for He who keepeth thee will not sleep Psalms 121:3; watch the way,” by which the enemy may approach from afar, for Satan approacheth, sometimes suddenly, sometimes very stealthily and subtly, “transforming himself into an angel of light.” Jerome: “Watch also the way by which thou art to go, as it is said, ‘Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein;’ Jeremiah 6:16, so that, having stood in many ways, we may come to that Way which saith, ‘I am the Way.’” Then , “make thy loins strong,” as the Saviour commands His disciples, “Let your loins be girded about” Luke 12:35, and the Apostle says, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” Ephesians 6:14; for nothing so strengthens as the Truth. For Christ being the Truth, whose with his whole heart hath belived in Christ, is strong against himself, and hath power over the loins, the seat of the passions. Then, since this warfare is hard, he adds, be strong, “fortify thy power mightily;” resist not listlessly, but vehemently; and that, in His strength who hath strengthened our nature, taking it to Himself and uniting it with the Godhead. For without Him, strong though thou be, thou wilt avail nothing.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER II
Nineveh is now called upon to prepare for the approach of her
enemies, the instruments of Jehovah's vengeance, 1;
and the military array and muster, the very arms and dress, of
the Medes and Babylonians in the reigns of Cyaxares and
Nabopolassar; their rapid approach to the city; the process of
the siege, and the inundation of the river; the capture of the
place; the captivity, lamentation, and flight of the
inhabitants; the sacking of this immense, wealthy, and
exceedingly populous city; and the consequent desolation and
terror, are all described in the pathetic, vivid, and sublime
imagery of Hebrew poetry, 2-10.
This description is succeeded by a very beautiful and
expressive allegory, 11-12;
which is immediately explained, and applied to the city of
Nineveh, 13.
It is thought by some commentators that the metropolitan city
of the Assyrian empire is also intended by the tender and
beautiful simile, in the seventh verse, of a great princess
led captive, with her maids of honour attending her, bewailing
her and their own condition, by beating their breasts, and by
other expressions of sorrow.
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Verse Nahum 2:1. He that dasheth in pieces — Or scattereth. The Chaldeans and Medes.
Keep the munition — Guard the fenced places. From this to the end of the fifth verse, the preparations made at Nineveh to repel their enemies are described. The description is exceedingly picturesque.
Watch the way — By which the enemy is most likely to approach.
Make thy loins strong — Take courage.
Fortify thy power — Muster thy troops; call in all thy allies.
