Nahum 2:10
What does Nahum 2:10 mean?
A plain-English look at Nahum 2:10 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nahum 2:10 means
Nahum piles up terms—empty, void, waste—to convey utter ruin. Inside and out, the city is hollowed: hearts melt in fear, knees knock together, and every face turns pale with anguish. The physical reactions underline the depth of dread and the reality of judgment. This is not only about buildings toppled and treasure carried off; it is about people overwhelmed by the collapse of everything they trusted. The verse captures the psychological and spiritual dimensions of defeat. The oppressor feels what it long inflicted—panic, pain, and helplessness. When God brings down proud powers, the effect reaches the innermost being, proving that no human system can shield from the day He appoints.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000She 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
King James Version · 1611She 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901She 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.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Everything has been taken from her, all is gone, she has nothing more: the heart is turned to water, the knees are shaking, all are twisted in pain, and colour has gone from all faces.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862She is empty, yea, emptiness and waste, And the heart hath melted, And the knees have smitten together, And great pain <FI>is<Fi> in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752She is destroyed, and rent, and torn: the heart melteth, and the knees fail, and all the loins lose their strength: and the faces of them all are as the blackness of a kettle.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and writhing pain is in all loins, and all their faces grow pale.
Context
Coming after the call to plunder in verse 9, this verse summarizes the totality of Nineveh’s fall—material, social, and emotional. It bridges the move from battlefield and spoil to the ensuing taunt in verses 11–12, which recall Nineveh’s former predatory identity, before the final divine verdict in verse 13. The structure heightens the contrast between past ferocity and present fear.
v.9Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
v.10This passage
v.11Where 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?
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Joshua 2:11
And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Jehovah your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
- Isaiah 21:3
Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
- Isaiah 34:10
It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
- Isaiah 24:1
Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
- Jeremiah 4:23
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
- Revelation 18:21
And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all.
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