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Bible Dictionaries
Nineveh
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
or Situated on the Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia, Nineveh was one of the great cities of the ancient world, and became capital of the powerful Assyrian Empire (Genesis 10:11-12; 2 Kings 19:36). (For map of Assyria and details of Nineveh’s history see ASSYRIA.) On one occasion the city was saved from a threatened invasion when the people responded to the preaching of God’s prophet Jonah (Jonah 1:1; Jonah 3; Jonah 4:11; Matthew 12:41; see JONAH).
Though the Assyrians were used by God to punish his people Israel, they were among the most brutal oppressors in recorded history. The prophets of God assured them of a fitting divine punishment (Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:12-16; Nahum 1:1; Nahum 3:1-7; Zephaniah 2:13; see NAHUM). This judgment fell in 612 BC, when the besieging Babylonians overcame Nineveh’s defences by bursting open the water gates, breaking through the wall and flooding the city (Nahum 2:6-8). The Babylonians then plundered and smashed the city, leaving it a heap of ruins. It was never rebuilt (Nahum 2:9-10; Nahum 3:1; Nahum 3:7; Zephaniah 2:13-15).
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Fleming, Don. Entry for 'Nineveh'. Bridgeway Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/bbd/n/nineveh.html. 2004.
