The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melteth away.
Nahum — A century after Jonah, Nineveh is still Nineveh — and Nahum's burden is the city's destruction. Three short chapters of breathtaking poetry on the fall of Assyria's capital.
Voices5
But is this the only place we read of "substance"? Has it not also been said in another passage: "The gates of the cities are broken down, the mountains are fallen, and his substance is revealed"? What, does the word mean something created here also? Some, I know, are accustomed to say that the substance is substance in money. Then, if you give this meaning to the word, the mountains fell in order that someone's possessions of money might be seen.
Ambrose of Milan· Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.14.115-16, 397patristic
(Verse 3 and following) The shield of the strong is ablaze, the men of the army in scarlet; the fiery chariots are on the day of its preparation; and the drivers are asleep, they are disturbed on the journey, the chariots collide in the streets. Their appearance is like torches, like lightning running to and fro. They will remember their mighty men, they will rush on their way, they will quickly climb its walls, and the shelter will be prepared.
Jerome· Commentary on Nahum, 420patristic
The gates of the rivers shall be opened,....
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
The gates of the rivers shall be opened - I have already referred to this, see the note on Nah 1:8; but it will be necessary to be more particular. The account given by Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii., is very surprising. He begins thus: Ην δ αυτῳ λογιον παραδεδομενον εκ προγονων, κ.τ.λ. - There was a prophecy received from their forefathers, that Nineveh should not be taken till the river first became an enemy to the city.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical
Traces of dams ("gates," or sluices) for regulating the supply are still visible, so that the whole city could be surrounded with a water barrier (Na 2:8). Besides, on the east, the weakest side, it was further protected by a lofty double rampart with a moat two hundred feet wide between its two parts, cut in the rocky ground.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches3
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
Look at your troops— they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.
