Nahum 2:10
in Nahum 2She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Nahum 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 10) She is scattered and torn and ripped apart, with a wasting heart, and knees loosened, and weakness in all the kidneys, and the faces of all like the darkness of a pot. LXX: Shaking, trembling, and bubbling, and the breaking of the heart, and knees loosened, and pains over every loin, and the faces of all like the burning of a pot.
This site's exposition
Take ye the spoil of silver
on Nahum 2:9-10
The plunder order is given to the attackers in the oracle's own voice, take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold, for there is none end of the store: the wealth of a century of empires' tribute handed over in a sentence. Then the after-picture in three Hebrew words the King James renders empty, and void, and waste, a rising rhyme of desolation the commentators note as sound made meaning. The heart melting, knees smiting, faces gathering blackness: the body's inventory of terror, the same anatomy Joel and Isaiah use for the day of the Lord, stated as the shared vocabulary it is.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Their spirits shall melt away like wax before the fire; their knees shall smite together (as Belshazzar's did, in his agony, Dan. v. 6 ), so that they shall not be able to stand their ground, no, nor to make their escape; much pain shall be in all loins, as is the case in extreme frights, so that they shall not be able to hold up their backs.
She is empty, and void, and waste,.... The city of Nineveh, empty of inhabitants, being killed, or having fled; and stripped of all its treasures and riches by the enemies; its walls and houses demolished and pulled down, and laid in ruins, and become a heap of rubbish; See Gill on Nah 1:
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Hebrew, Bukah, Mebukah, Mebullakah (compare Isa 24:1, 3, 4; Zep 1:15). faces of all gather blackness--(See on Joe 2:6). CALVIN translates, "withdraw (literally, 'gather up') their glow," or flush, that is, grow pale.
She is empty, and void, and waste - The original is strongly emphatic; the words are of the same sound; and increase in their length as they point out great, greater, and greatest desolation. בוקה ומבוקה ומבלקה Bukah, umebukah, umebullakah. She is void, empty, and desolate.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
She is empty and void and waste - The completeness of her judgment is declared first under that solemn number, Three, and the three words in Hebrew are nearly the same , with the same meaning, only each word fuller than the former, as picturing a growing desolation; and then under four heads (in all seven) also a growing fear. First the heart, the seat of courage and resolve and high purpose, melteth; then the knees smite together, tremble, shake, under the frame; then, much pain is in all loins, literally, “strong pains as of a woman in travail,” writhing and doubling the whole body, and making it wholly powerless and unable to stand upright, shall bow the very loins, the seat of strength Pro 31:17, and, lastly, the faces of them all gather blackness (see the note at Joe 2:6), the fruit of extreme pain, and the token of approaching dissolution.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בּוּקָ֥ה | bukah | emptiness | H950 → | |
| וּמְבוּקָ֖ה | umevukah | and emptiness | H4003 → | |
| וּמְבֻלָּקָ֑ה | umevulakah | and devastation | H1110 → | |
| וְלֵ֨ב | velev | and heart | H3820 → | |
| נָמֵ֜ס | names | [is] melting | H4549 → | |
| וּפִ֣ק | ufik | and [are] tottering | H6375 → | |
| בִּרְכַּ֗יִם | birkayim | knees | H1290 → | |
| וְחַלְחָלָה֙ | vechalchalah | and anguish | H2479 → | |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | [is] in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מָתְנַ֔יִם | matenayim | loins | H4975 → | |
| וּפְנֵ֥י | ufenei | and [the] faces of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| כֻלָּ֖ם | khulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| קִבְּצ֥וּ | kibetzu | they have gathered | H6908 → | |
| פָארֽוּר׃ | farur | a glow | H6289 → |
בּוּקָ֥הemptiness
bukahH950 →
וּמְבוּקָ֖הand emptiness
umevukahH4003 →
וּמְבֻלָּקָ֑הand devastation
umevulakahH1110 →
וְלֵ֨בand heart
velevH3820 →
נָמֵ֜ס[is] melting
namesH4549 →
וּפִ֣קand [are] tottering
ufikH6375 →
בִּרְכַּ֗יִםknees
birkayimH1290 →
וְחַלְחָלָה֙and anguish
vechalchalahH2479 →
בְּכָל־[is] in all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
מָתְנַ֔יִםloins
matenayimH4975 →
וּפְנֵ֥יand [the] faces of
ufeneiH6440 →2123 times
כֻלָּ֖םall of them
khulamH3605 →5413 times
קִבְּצ֥וּthey have gathered
kibetzuH6908 →
פָארֽוּר׃a glow
farurH6289 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
it leads to
- Psalms 31:10
For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away.
- Daniel 5:6
his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.
- Job 30:16
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.
- Psalms 22:17
I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me.
- Job 23:16
God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
- Psalms 31:10
Through
Jeremiah 30:6Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?
it leads to
- Joel 2:6
Nations writhe in horror before them; every face turns pale.
- Jeremiah 4:31
For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to…
- Isaiah 21:3
Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Joel 2:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Nahum
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.