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From: Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7

The fall of Nineveh interpreted

[1] The shatterer has come up against you.
Man the ramparts;
watch the road;
gird your loins;
collect all your strength.

[3] The shield of his mighty men is red,
his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots flash like flame
when mustered in array;
the chargers prance.

Nineveh sentenced for its crimes

[1] Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and booty —
no end to the plunder!
[2] The crack of whip, and rumble of wheel,
galloping horse and bounding chariot!
[3] Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spear,
hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!

[6] I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt,
and make you a gazing-stock.
[7] And all who look on you will shrink from you and say,
Wasted is Nineveh; who will bemoan her?
whence shall I seek comforters for her?”

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Commentary:

2:1-3:19. A brief introduction explaining the significance of the fall of Nineveh
(2:1-2), is followed by a very powerful poem about the assault on and destruction
of the Assyrian capital (2:3-3:19); it is interwoven with feelings of joy at the fall
of the hated city: astonishment at the scale and nature of the violence; and ac-
knowledgment that there is no appeal against God’s sentence. The poem is very
carefully constructed, and follows the logical course of an invasion — the assault
on the city (2:3-13), a description of the crimes that warranted God’s sentence
(3:1-7), a comparison with the fate of Thebes (3:8-11), the weakness of Nineveh
(its army as well as its fortresses: 3:12-17), and finally an “elegy” for the king of
Nineveh (3:18-19).

2:3-4. It is very difficult to capture in translation the full impact of the Hebrew
original. The prophet manages to convey the sheer terror and anguish of the
Ninevites as the Babylonian army pours through the streets and squares of the
great capital of Assyria.

2:7. The “mistress”, literally “she who stands upright”. The original text is not in
good condition. The New Vulgate translates it as “the Beautiful” (woman). What
is being referred to here apparently is the statue of lshtar, goddess of love and
war, much honoured in Nineveh. On seeing the statue destroyed, her devotees
and priestesses would make much lamentation.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.