Nahum 2:10

Old Testament Minor Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Nahum 2:10 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “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.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

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.
Nahum 2:10 — American Standard Version

Context — Nahum 2

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
10She 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.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“She is empty, and void, and waste, etc.] 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 “Na 1:8”). Various words are here used to ascertain and confirm the thing; and there is an elegant play on words or likeness of sounds, which our language will not express: and the heart melteth; the heart of every inhabitant of Nineveh melted with fear at the approach of their enemies, their entrance into the city, and plunder of it; flowed like water, or melted like wax; (see <192214>Psalm 22:14): and the…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“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…”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“She is: Nineveh was taken and utterly ruined by Assuerus, or Cyaxares, king of Media, and Nabuchodonosor, or Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, bc 606, or 612. Diodorus, who with others ascribes the taking of it to Arbaces the Mede and Belesis the Babylonian, says that he "dispersed the citizens in the villages, levelled the city with the ground, transferred the gold and silver, of which there were many talents, to Ecbatana the metropolis of the Medes, and this subverted the empire of the Assyrians." empty: Nah 3:7; Gen 1:2; Isa 13:19-22, Isa 14:23, Isa 24:1, Isa 34:10-15; Jer 4:23-26; Jer 51:62; Zep 2:13-15, Zep 3:6; Rev 18:21-23 the heart: Jos 2:11; Psa 22:14; Isa 13:7, Isa 13:8 the knees: Dan…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification