Nahum 2:11
in Nahum 2Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?
KJV
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?
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This verse in Nahum 2
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 11) Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding ground of the lion cubs, to which the lion went to enter there with its lion cub, and there is no one to drive them away? The lion has taken enough for its cubs, and has killed for its lionesses; and it has filled its dens with prey and its lair with the spoils. Concerning dens and lionesses, seventy are carried off in translation, and the same meaning holds for the rest.
This site's exposition
the dwelling of the lions
on Nahum 2:11-13
The taunt closes the chapter at the empty den: where is the dwelling of the lions, where the lion walked and none made them afraid? The lion was Assyria's own royal emblem, carved on its palace walls, and the prophet turns the heraldry into an epitaph, the lion that tore for his whelps and filled his holes with prey now hunted out of history, which the bench sets beside the monuments' lion hunts. The last word is not the armies' but the Lord's, behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, the sentence repeated at 3:5: one adversary decided this siege, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard, the empire's dispatches ended.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Where is the dwelling of the lions?.... Of the kings of Assyria, comparable to lions for their strength, courage, and cruelty, tyranny, and oppression; such as Pul, Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib.
Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. 9 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. 10 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.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
): Where is the dwelling of the lions? It is gone; there appear no remnants, no footsteps, of it. Where is the feeding place of the young lions, where they glutted themselves with prey?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
In the streets - Of Nineveh, when taken. Justle - By reason of their multitude and fury. In the broad ways - Where is most room, and yet scarce enough for them to move.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions? - Great indeed must be the desolation, which should call forth the wonder of the prophet of God. He asks “where is it?” For so utterly was Nineveh to be effaced, that its place should scarcely be known, and now is known by the ruins which have been buried, and are dug up. The messengers of her king had asked, “Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?” 2Ki 18:
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
It was as full of spoils of all nations as a lion's den is of remains of its prey. The question, "Where," &c., implies that Jehovah "would make an utter end of the place," so that its very site could not be found (Na 1:8).
Where is the dwelling of the lions - Nineveh, the habitation of bold, strong, and ferocious men. The feeding place of the young lions - Whither her victorious and rapacious generals frequently returned to consume the produce of their success. Here they walked at large, and none made them afraid. Wheresoever they turned their arms they were victors; and all nations were afraid of them.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Where is the lions’ den? —This is a lamentation over Nineveh, which was the dwellings of kings, hard and strong as lions.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַיֵּה֙ | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | |
| מְע֣וֹן | meon | [is the] dwelling place of | H4583 → | |
| אֲרָי֔וֹת | ʾarayot | lions | H738 → | 80 times |
| וּמִרְעֶ֥ה | umireh | and [is] pasture | H4829 → | |
| ה֖וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לַכְּפִרִ֑ים | lakefirim | for <the> young lions | H3715 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | where | H834 → | |
| הָלַךְ֩ | halakh | it walked | H1980 → | |
| אַרְיֵ֨ה | ʾaryeh | lion | H738 → | 80 times |
| לָבִ֥יא | lavi' | lioness | H3833 → | |
| שָׁ֛ם | sham | there | H8033 → | |
| גּ֥וּר | gur | cub of | H1482 → | |
| אַרְיֵ֖ה | ʾaryeh | lion | H738 → | 80 times |
| וְאֵ֥ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מַחֲרִֽיד׃ | macharid | [was one who] disturbed [them] | H2729 → |
אַיֵּה֙where?
ʾaiyehH346 →
מְע֣וֹן[is the] dwelling place of
meonH4583 →
אֲרָי֔וֹתlions
ʾarayotH738 →80 times
וּמִרְעֶ֥הand [is] pasture
umirehH4829 →
ה֖וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
לַכְּפִרִ֑יםfor <the> young lions
lakefirimH3715 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhere
ʾasherH834 →
הָלַךְ֩it walked
halakhH1980 →
אַרְיֵ֨הlion
ʾaryehH738 →80 times
לָבִ֥יאlioness
lavi'H3833 →
שָׁ֛םthere
shamH8033 →
גּ֥וּרcub of
gurH1482 →
אַרְיֵ֖הlion
ʾaryehH738 →80 times
וְאֵ֥יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
מַחֲרִֽיד׃[was one who] disturbed [them]
macharidH2729 →
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
Jeremiah 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and…
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:7
Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 5:6
Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be…
- Isaiah 6:11
Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Ezekiel 26:7–10
For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great company…
- Jeremiah 2:15
The young lions have roared at him; they have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
- Isaiah 1:7
Through
Nahum 3:1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
it leads to
- Zephaniah 3:1–3
Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!
- Habakkuk 2:12
Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!
- Hosea 4:2
Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
- Zephaniah 3:1–3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Nahum
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.