Nineveh

How Nave’s arranged it

• Capitol of the Assyrian EmpireGenesis 10:11Genesis 10:12
• Contained a population of upwards of one-hundred and twenty thousand people, when Jonah preachedJonah 4:11
• Extent ofJonah 3:4
• Sennacherib in2 Kings 19:362 Kings 19:37Isaiah 37:37Isaiah 37:38
• Jonah preaches toJonah 1:1Jonah 1:2Jonah 3
• Nahum prophesies againstNahum 1Nahum 2Nahum 3
• Zephaniah foretells the desolation ofZephaniah 2:13–15

The passages, in Bible order (15)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 15 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 10:11

   From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,

   ›Commentary on Genesis 10:112 voices

   “(Verse 11) From that land came Assur, and he built Nineveh and the city of Rehoboth. From this land of the Assyrians, the empire sprouted, founded by Ninus, son of Belus, and it is a great city which the Hebrews call Nineveh. The entire prophecy of Jonah pertains to its destruction or repentance. And when it says 'Nineveh and the city of Rehoboth,' we should not think that there are two cities, but because Rehoboth means streets, it should be read as 'And he built Nineveh, and the streets of the city.'

   “Out of that land went forth Asshur - The marginal reading is to be preferred here. He - Nimrod, went out into Assyria and built Nineveh; and hence Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic 5:6. Thus did this mighty hunter extend his dominions in every possible way. The city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, is supposed to have had its name from Ninus, the son of Nimrod; but probably Ninus and Nimrod are the same person.

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2. Genesis 10:12

   and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.

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3. 2 Kings 19:36

   So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 19:362 voices

   “Dwelt at Nineveh - The meaning is not that Sennacherib made no more expeditions at all, which would he untrue, for his annals show us that he warred in Armenia, Babylonia, Susiana, and Cilicia, during his later years; but that he confined himself to his own part of Asia, and did not invade Palestine or threaten Jerusalem anymore. Nineveh, marked by some ruins opposite Mosul, appears here unmistakably as the Assyrian capital, which it became toward the close of the 9th century B.C. It has previously been mentioned only in Genesis (marginal reference).

   “So Sennacherib king of Assyria . . . went and returned--the same way as he came (2Ki 19:33). The route is described (Isa 10:28-32). The early chariot track near Beyrout is on the rocky edge of Lebanon, which is skirted by the ancient Lycus (Nahr-el Kelb).

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 19:36→

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4. 2 Kings 19:37

   One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 19:372 voices

   “The death of Sennacherib, which took place many years afterward (680 B.C.), is related here, as, from the divine point of view, the sequel to his Syrian expeditions. Nisroch his god - Nisroch has not been as yet identified with any known Assyrian deity. The word may not be the name of a god at all but the name of the temple, as Josephus understood it. Assyrian temples were almost all distinguished by special names.

   “Justly is his blood mingled with his sacrifices, since he will not be convinced by such a plain and dear-bought demonstration of his folly in worshipping idols. His sons that murdered him were suffered to escape, and no pursuit was made after them, his subjects perhaps being weary of the government of so proud a man and thinking themselves well rid of him.

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5. Isaiah 37:37

   So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 37:371 voice

   “So Sennacherib departed - Probably with some portion of his army and retinue with him, for it is by no means probable that the whole army had been destroyed. In 2Ch 32:21, it is said that the angel ‘cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.’ His army was thus entirely disabled, and the loss of so large a part of it, and the consternation produced by their sudden destruction, would of course lead him to abandon the siege.

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6. Isaiah 37:38

   One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 37:382 voices

   “The eagle was worshipper by the ancient Persians and Arabs. Esar-haddon--In Ezr 4:2 he is mentioned as having brought colonists into Samaria. He is also thought to have been the king who carried Manasseh captive to Babylon (2Ch 33:11).

   “And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god,.... Josephus says (z), in his temple, called Arasce; but Nisroch was the name of his deity he worshipped; though who he was is not certain.

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7. Jonah 1:1

   Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,

   ›Commentary on Jonah 1:12 voices

   "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Apart from that which the Septuagint translates as, "the noise of their wickedness has risen up even to me", it has translated the rest similarly. Jonah is sent to the gentiles to condemn Israel, because Nineveh had to repent, but the Israelites still persisted in their sin.

   “Jonah--meaning in Hebrew, "dove." Compare Ge 8:8, 9, where the dove in vain seeks rest after flying from Noah and the ark: so Jonah. GROTIUS not so well explains it, "one sprung from Greece" or Ionia, where there were prophets called Amythaonidæ. Amittai--Hebrew for "truth," "truth-telling"; appropriate to a prophet.

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8. Jonah 1:2

   “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”

   ›Commentary on Jonah 1:22 voices

   “Jonah, however, is sent to Nineveh, not solely for Nineveh's good, but also to shame Israel, by the fact of a heathen city repenting at the first preaching of a single stranger, Jonah, whereas God's people will not repent, though preached to by their many national prophets, late and early. Nineveh means "the residence of Ninus," that is, Nimrod.

   "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Apart from that which the Septuagint translates as, "the noise of their wickedness has risen up even to me", it has translated the rest similarly. Jonah is sent to the gentiles to condemn Israel, because Nineveh had to repent, but the Israelites still persisted in their sin.

   Everything gathered on Jonah 1:2→

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9. Jonah 3:1

   Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

   ›Commentary on Jonah 3:11 voice

   “He neither endeavored to avoid hearing the command, nor did he decline obeying it; he made no objections, as he had done, that the journey was long, the errand invidious, the delivery of it perilous, and, if the threatened judgment did come, he should be reproached as a false prophet, and the impenitence of his own nation would be upbraided, which he had objected, ch. iv.

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10. Jonah 3:4

    On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”

    ›Commentary on Jonah 3:42 voices

    “It is no longer a cry against the sins of Nineveh, but an announcement of its ruin in forty days. This number is in Scripture associated often with humiliation. It was forty days that Moses, Elijah, and Christ fasted.

    "[And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey], and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." LXX: 'he proclaimed and said, another three days and Nineveh will be destroyed". The umber three written in the Septuagint does not agree with the penitence, and I am quite astonished at this translation, for in Hebrew neither the letters or syllables or accents or the word show any common element. For three is said, salos and forty arbaim.

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11. Jonah 4:11

    So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”

    ›Commentary on Jonah 4:112 voices

    “That great city - Wouldest thou have me less merciful to such a goodly city, than thou art to a weed? Who cannot discern - Here are more than six-score innocents who are infants. Much cattle - Beside men, women and children who are in Nineveh, there are many other of my creatures that are not sinful, and my tender mercies are and shall be over all my works.

    "Then said the LORD, You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" LXX: 'and the Lord said, 'you wanted to keep safe a gourd which has done you no wickedness, that you have not cared for, which was born in one night and died in one night.

    Everything gathered on Jonah 4:11→

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12. Nahum 1:1

    This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

    ›Commentary on Nahum 1:11 voice

    “The burden - Jerome: “The word משׂא mas's'â', ‘burden’ is never placed in the title, except when the vision is heavy and full of burden and toil.” Of Nineveh - The prophecy of Nahum again is very stern and awful. Nineveh, after having “repented at the preaching of Jonah,” again fell back into the sins whereof it had repented, and added this, that, being employed by God to chasten Israel, it set itself, not to inflict the measure of God’s displeasure, but to uproot the chosen people, in whom was promised the birth of Christ .

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13. Nahum 2:1

    One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!

    ›Commentary on Nahum 2:12 voices

    “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 .

    “Ironical advice; equivalent to a prophecy, Thou shalt have need to use all possible means of defense; but use what thou wilt, all will be in vain. make thy loins strong--The loins are the seat of strength; to gird them up is to prepare all one's strength for conflict (Job 40:7).

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14. Nahum 3:1

    Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

    ›Commentary on Nahum 3:12 voices

    “Though hv, eu, sometimes means Woe; yet it is put here as though the Prophet would have constrained Nineveh to undergo its punishment, O sanguinary city, then, the whole of it is full of kchs cachesh: the word signifies leanness and the Prophet no doubt joins here together two words, which seem to differ widely, and yet they signify the same thing.

    “Nineveh had with her cruelties been a terror and destruction to others, and therefore destruction and terror shall be brought upon her. Those that are for overthrowing all that come in their way will, sooner or later, meet with their match.

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15. Zephaniah 2:13–15

    And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.

    ›Commentary on Zephaniah 2:13–152 voices

    “Here he passes suddenly to the north. Nineveh was destroyed by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, 625 B.C. The Scythian hordes, by an inroad into Media and thence in the southwest of Asia (thought by many to be the forces described by Zephaniah, as the invaders of Judea, rather than the Chaldeans), for a while interrupted Cyaxares' operations; but he finally succeeded.

    “Zephaniah began by singling out Judah amid the general destruction, “I will also stretch out My Hand upon Judah” Zep 1:4; he sums up the judgment of the world in the same way; “He will stretch out, or, Stretch He forth, “His Hand against the north and destroy Asshur, and make Nineveh a desolation.” Judah had, in Zephaniah’s time, nothing to fear from Assyria. Isaiah Isa 39:6 and Micah Mic 4:10 had already foretold, that the captivity would be to Babylon. Yet of Assyria alone the prophet, in his own person, expresses his own conformity with the mind of God.

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