Nahum 2 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

If you have decided to set the text of this book into short lines of poetry, you will want to continue to do so in this chapter.

Despite being divided into three chapters, this book contains one long prophecy.

Outline of chapter 2

1. Description of the battle that destroys Nineveh (2:1–10)
2. Comparison of Nineveh to a lion’s den (2:11–13)

Translation Issues

Past and present for future

In this chapter, Nahum describes a battle for Nineveh in which the city is destroyed. He describes the battle and the resulting devastation of the city as though he is watching it happen, probably because God showed it to him in a vision (1:1). However, the actual battle and destruction did not happen until many years after Nahum spoke this prophecy. If it would be helpful in your translation, you could explain this in a footnote, or you could change the verbs to future so that your readers will know that Nahum was predicting something that would happen later; it was not happening at that time.

Extended metaphor

There is an extended metaphor in 2:11–13. In this metaphor, Yahweh compares Nineveh to a lion’s den and its inhabitants to lions who kill and devour their enemies. If this is unclear for your readers, you may want to provide an explanation in a footnote. (See: [extended metaphor](figs-exmetaphor)).