Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Nahum
Chapter 2: Behold, I Am Against Thee
Nahum 2 is a battle scene painted in fire and blood: the fall of Nineveh, the cruel capital of Assyria. The attacker 'is come up before thy face,' scarlet-clad warriors and flaming chariots rage through the streets, 'the gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.' The city that had emptied so many nations is now 'empty, and void, and waste,' its treasures plundered, its people's 'heart melteth.' Nahum mocks the fallen empire with its own emblem, the lion, 'Where is the dwelling of the lions?', the den that once filled its 'holes with prey' is destroyed. And behind it all stands the reason no army could resist: 'Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts.' When God sets Himself against a proud oppressor, no wall, no chariot, no strength can save it.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Nahum chapter 2, the siege and fall of Nineveh. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter shows the certain end of a cruel empire when God declares Himself against it. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Chariots in the Streets
The attacker comes up against the doomed city.
Empty, Void, and Waste
The plunderer of nations now plundered.
Where Is the Dwelling of the Lions?
The devouring empire mocked with its own emblem.
I Am Against Thee
No strength can stand when the LORD opposes it.
The Gates of the Rivers Shall Be Opened (Nahum 2:1-7)
The destroyer advances on Nineveh with scarlet warriors and flashing chariots; the defenders scramble to the walls, but the river-gates are thrown open, the palace collapses, and the city is led away captive.
He That Dasheth in Pieces Is Come Up
"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. For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts."
Hebrew Study
"He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face." The word pictures a scatterer, a shatterer, one who breaks an army to pieces. Nahum addresses Nineveh directly and mockingly: brace yourself, "keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong", do everything a city can do to defend itself. The irony is bitter, for none of it will help. Assyria had dashed so many nations in pieces; now one comes to dash her. "They that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matthew 26:52). The empire built by shattering others is shattered in turn, and no amount of fortifying can stop the "dasher" God has appointed.
"the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel." A gleam of grace shines in the middle of the war scene. Nineveh's fall is bound up with God's purpose to restore His own people: God will "turn away" (restore, bring back) "the excellency of Jacob," the glory the "emptiers" had stripped from Israel. Assyria had "emptied them out"; now God will refill His people and empty their emptiers. The judgment of the oppressor is the deliverance of the oppressed. This is how God often works, the same act that brings down the cruel raises up the crushed, "he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree" (Luke 1:52).
Explanation
Nahum opens with a taunt to the doomed city: "He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face." He tells Nineveh to man its defenses, "make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily", knowing full well it is useless. And he names the deeper reason: God is acting to restore "the excellency of Jacob," reversing what "the emptiers" did to His people.
Then the battle blazes. The attacking soldiers are clad in "red" and "scarlet," their chariots "with flaming torches" that "rage in the streets... like the lightnings." Nineveh's officers "stumble" as they rush to the wall. And the decisive blow falls: "The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved." (Ancient accounts tell of the Tigris flooding and breaching Nineveh's walls, a striking fulfillment.) The queen or the city herself, "Huzzab," is "led away captive," her maids mourning "as with the voice of doves," beating their breasts. The impregnable city falls, exactly as God said.
Gospel Focus
Nahum's taunt, "make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily," is a lesson in the folly of trusting our own defenses against God. Nineveh had the mightiest walls of the ancient world, and they were "dissolved" in a night. No fortification stands when God opposes it. The same is true of every proud stronghold sinners build, wealth, power, reputation, self-sufficiency, against the day of reckoning. "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD" (Proverbs 21:30). The only safe refuge is not a wall we build but the LORD Himself, who in the previous chapter is "a strong hold in the day of trouble" (Nahum 1:7) to all who trust Him.
And take comfort from the grace hidden in the judgment: "the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob." God brought down cruel Nineveh in order to lift up His battered people. The fall of the oppressor was the restoration of the oppressed. This is a pattern that runs to the cross and beyond: God overthrows the powers that crush His people and restores what the "emptiers" stole. If you have been emptied and marred by the cruelty of this world, take heart, the God who is against the oppressor is for you, and He will restore the excellency the emptiers took.
Where Is the Dwelling of the Lions? (Nahum 2:8-13)
Nineveh, once a pool that never emptied, drains away as its people flee and its treasures are plundered; Nahum mocks the empire that devoured the nations like a lion, and God Himself declares He is against her and will silence her forever.
Behold, I Am Against Thee, Saith the LORD of Hosts
"But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard."
Hebrew Study
"Where is the dwelling of the lions?" The lion was Assyria's own proud emblem; its palaces were adorned with carved lions, and its kings boasted of ravaging the nations like beasts. Nahum turns the symbol into a taunt. The empire that "did tear in pieces" and "filled his holes with prey" is now an empty den: "Where is the dwelling of the lions?" The devourer is devoured. "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein" (Proverbs 26:27); the predator nation that gorged itself on others is itself consumed. God has a way of turning a proud people's own boast into the epitaph on its grave.
"Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts." Here is the phrase that seals Nineveh's doom, and it is one of the most terrible sentences in Scripture. Not "an enemy is against thee," but "I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts." When the Almighty sets Himself against a nation, its case is hopeless; no chariots, lions, or messengers can save it. This is the dark reverse of the gospel's greatest comfort, "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). The same God who is an unbreakable refuge to those who trust Him is an unstoppable adversary to the proud and cruel who will not repent. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). Everything depends on which side of that word we are found: is God for us, or against us?
Explanation
Nineveh had been "like a pool of water," seemingly permanent and full, fed by canals and rich with the plunder of the world. Now the pool drains: "they shall flee away," and though officers cry "Stand, stand," "none shall look back." The conquerors seize the endless treasure, "the spoil of silver... the spoil of gold," and the city is left "empty, and void, and waste," her people's courage gone, "the heart melteth, and the knees smite together."
Then Nahum sings his taunt over the lion's den. Assyria had prowled like a lion, tearing prey for its whelps and filling its "dens with ravin," and "none made them afraid." Where is all that ferocity now? The answer comes from God Himself: "Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts." He will "burn her chariots," let "the sword... devour thy young lions," "cut off thy prey," and silence "the voice of thy messengers" (the arrogant envoys who once carried Assyria's threats). The empire that terrorized the world falls silent, because the LORD of hosts has declared Himself its enemy.
Gospel Focus
"Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts" should make every proud heart tremble and every trusting heart give thanks. For the cruel and unrepentant, this is the end of hope: when God is against a people, nothing can save them. Assyria's lions, chariots, and treasures were as nothing before that word. It is a solemn reminder that God's patience is not indifference; He will finally set Himself against all that is proud, violent, and evil. "God is not mocked" (Galatians 6:7), and no empire, however mighty, outlasts His justice.
But turn the word around, and it becomes the sweetest comfort. The same God who was "against" Nineveh is "for" all who trust Him, "if God be for us, who can be against us?" The whole question of our lives is which side of "I am against thee" we are on, and the gospel is the good news that the God who has every right to be against us as sinners became, in Christ, "for us," bearing our judgment so that we might be reconciled, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Do not be found among the proud lions who feel no need of Him; humble yourself, take refuge in the strong hold that is the LORD, and the word over your life will not be "I am against thee," but "I am for thee."
Chapter 2 in Review
Nahum 2 is the fall of Nineveh painted in vivid color. The "dasher" comes up against the city; scarlet warriors and flaming chariots rage in the streets; "the gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved," and the city is led away captive. The pool that never emptied drains away; the plunderer of nations is plundered, left "empty, and void, and waste." Nahum mocks the empire with its own emblem, "Where is the dwelling of the lions?", and God seals its doom with the terrible word, "Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts." Woven through it is grace: God acts to "turn away the excellency of Jacob," restoring His battered people even as He judges their oppressor.
For the Apostolic reader this chapter teaches the futility of every defense against God and the certainty of His justice on cruel pride. No wall, chariot, or lion's strength stands when "the LORD of hosts" declares Himself against a people. Yet the same word is the hinge of the gospel: the God who is against the proud oppressor is "for us" who trust Him, and in Christ the God we had every reason to fear as our adversary became our reconciler, bearing our judgment so we could be for ever on the side of "if God be for us." The fall of the lion's den is a warning to the proud and a comfort to the crushed: God is against the oppressor and for His people.
- No defense stands against God: Nineveh's mighty walls were "dissolved" (2:1, 6; Proverbs 21:30).
- Judgment on the oppressor is deliverance for the oppressed: God restores "the excellency of Jacob" (2:2; Luke 1:52).
- The devourer is devoured; God turns a proud people's boast into its epitaph (2:11-12; Proverbs 26:27).
- "Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts" is the end of hope for the unrepentant (2:13; James 4:6).
- The reverse is the gospel's comfort: "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).
- In Christ the God we feared as adversary became our reconciler (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Questions for Reflection
- What "walls" are you tempted to trust instead of taking refuge in the LORD?
- Does the justice of God on cruel oppressors comfort you when evil seems to win?
- Is God, in this moment, "for you" or "against you", and how do you know?
- Have you fled the coming judgment by taking refuge in Christ your reconciler?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). "Huzzab" (verse 7) is variously understood as the name of the queen, or as a poetic term for the city or its fixed fate led into exile. The historical fall of Nineveh (612 BC) to the Babylonians and Medes, including the role of flooding rivers, is well attested. The one who lives by the sword perishing by it: Matthew 26:52; Revelation 13:10; Isaiah 33:1. God restoring His people while judging their oppressors: Isaiah 10:12-27; Jeremiah 30:16; Luke 1:51-53. The predator devoured, the pit-digger falling in: Psalm 7:15-16; 9:15-16; Proverbs 26:27; Obadiah 15. "Behold, I am against thee": Nahum 3:5; Jeremiah 21:13; 50:31; Ezekiel 5:8; 26:3; 35:3. God for us versus against us: Romans 8:31-39; Psalm 118:6; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5. God our refuge in the day of trouble: Nahum 1:7; Psalm 46:1; 91:1-2. Reconciliation in Christ: Romans 5:8-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Colossians 1:20-22. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The siege and fall of Nineveh, and grace to restore Jacob: Nahum 2:1-7; Proverbs 21:30; Luke 1:52.
- The lion's den destroyed and God's word "I am against thee": Nahum 2:8-13; Romans 8:31; 2 Corinthians 5:19.