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2. Nineveh to Fall

¹ In Hebrew texts 2:1-13 is numbered 2:2-14.An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.
   Guard the fortress,
   watch the road,
   brace yourselves,
   marshal all your strength!

    ² The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob
   like the splendor of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
   and have ruined their vines.

    ³ The shields of the soldiers are red;
   the warriors are clad in scarlet.
The metal on the chariots flashes
   on the day they are made ready;
   the spears of juniper are brandished. Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac ready; / the horsemen rush to and fro.
⁴ The chariots storm through the streets,
   rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
   they dart about like lightning.

    ⁵ Nineveh summons her picked troops,
   yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
   the protective shield is put in place.
⁶ The river gates are thrown open
   and the palace collapses.
⁷ It is decreed The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. that Nineveh
   be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan like doves
   and beat on their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh is like a pool
   whose water is draining away.
“Stop! Stop!” they cry,
   but no one turns back.
⁹ Plunder the silver!
   Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
   the wealth from all its treasures!
¹⁰ She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
   Hearts melt, knees give way,
   bodies tremble, every face grows pale.

    ¹¹ Where now is the lions’ den,
   the place where they fed their young,
where the lion and lioness went,
   and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
¹² The lion killed enough for his cubs
   and strangled the prey for his mate,
filling his lairs with the kill
   and his dens with the prey.

    ¹³ “I am against you,”
   declares the LORD Almighty.
“I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
   and the sword will devour your young lions.
   I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
   will no longer be heard.”

By the gates of the rivers the Prophet means that part of the city which was most fortified by the river Tigris; for the Tigris flowed close by the city. As then the Tigris was like the strongest defense, (for we know it to have been a most rapid river,) the Prophet ridicules the confidence of the Ninevites, who thought that the access of enemies could be wholly prevented in that part where the Tigris flowed. The gates then of the rivers are opened; that is, your river shall not prevent your enemies from breaking through and penetrating into your city.

We hence see, that the Prophet removes all the hindrances which might have seemed available to keep off enemies; and he did so, not so much for the sake of Nineveh as for the sake of his chosen people, that the Israelites and Jews might know, that that city was no less in the power of God than any other; for God can no less easily pass through rivers than go along the plain, where there is no obstacle. We now see why the Prophet says, that the gates of the rivers were opened: and then he adds, The palace is dissolved; that is, there will be no impediment to prevent the approach of enemies; for all the fortresses will melt away, and that of themselves, as though they were walls of paper, and the stones, as though they were water. He afterwards adds —