Nahum 2:10
New International Version
She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.

New Living Translation
Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling.

English Standard Version
Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!

Berean Standard Bible
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

King James Bible
She 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.

New King James Version
She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake; Much pain is in every side, And all their faces are drained of color.

New American Standard Bible
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees wobbling! Also trembling is in the entire body, And all their faces have become pale!

NASB 1995
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body And all their faces are grown pale!

NASB 1977
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body, And all their faces are grown pale!

Legacy Standard Bible
She is emptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in all their loins, And all their faces turn pale!

Amplified Bible
She is emptied! She is desolate and waste! Hearts melting [in fear] and knees knocking! Anguish is in the whole body, And the faces of all grow pale!

Christian Standard Bible
Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, insides churn, every face grows pale!

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, loins shake, every face grows pale!

American Standard Version
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.

Contemporary English Version
Nineveh is doomed! Destroyed! Her people tremble with fear; their faces turn pale.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, demolished. Hearts are melting. Knees are knocking. Every stomach becomes upset. Every face turns pale.

Good News Translation
Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.

International Standard Version
Nineveh is devastated, deserted, and desolate. Her heart melts, her knees knock. Every stomach is upset, every face grows pale.

Majority Standard Bible
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

NET Bible
Destruction, devastation, and desolation! Their hearts faint, their knees tremble, each stomach churns, each face turns pale!

New Heart English Bible
She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

Webster's Bible Translation
She 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.

World English Bible
She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
She is empty, indeed, emptiness and waste, "" And the heart has melted, "" And the knees have struck together, "" And great pain [is] in all loins, "" And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.

Young's Literal Translation
She is empty, yea, emptiness and waste, And the heart hath melted, And the knees have smitten together, And great pain is in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.

Smith's Literal Translation
She was emptied, and being emptied, and being made empty: and the heart melted, and a wavering of the knees, and trembling in all loins, and the face of them all gathered a glow.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
She 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.

Catholic Public Domain Version
She has been scattered, and cut, and torn apart. And the heart melts, and the knees buckle, and weakness is in every temperament. And the faces of them all are like a black kettle.

New American Bible
Emptiness, desolation, waste; melting hearts and trembling knees, Churning in every stomach, every face turning pale!

New Revised Standard Version
Devastation, desolation, and destruction! Hearts faint and knees tremble, all loins quake, all faces grow pale!
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
She is trampled upon, she is overthrown and breached; the heart faints and the knees tremble and pain is in all loins, and all of them are greatly ashamed.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
She is trampled and gangrenous and broken through and the heart is broken and knocking of the knees and trembling in all loins, and all faces I shall make black as the soot of cedar wood
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
She is empty, and void, and waste; And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, And convulsion is in all loins, And the faces of them all have gathered blackness.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
There is thrusting forth, and shaking, and tumult, and heart-breaking, and loosing of knees, and pangs on all loins; and the faces of all are as the blackening of a pot.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Overthrow of Nineveh
9“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing. 10She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale! 11Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?…

Cross References
Isaiah 13:6-9
Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty. / Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt. / Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear. ...

Zephaniah 1:14-15
The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter. / That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

Joel 2:1-2
Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near— / a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.

Isaiah 24:1-3
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants— / people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor. / The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.

Jeremiah 50:34-37
Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon. / A sword is against the Chaldeans, declares the LORD, against those who live in Babylon, and against her officials and wise men. / A sword is against her false prophets, and they will become fools. A sword is against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror. ...

Ezekiel 26:15-18
This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Will not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan at the slaughter in your midst? / All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled over you. / Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples! ...

Isaiah 21:3-4
Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see. / My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.

Jeremiah 51:29-32
The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. / The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken. / One courier races to meet another, and messenger follows messenger, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end. ...

Lamentations 2:11
My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

Isaiah 15:1-3
This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night! / Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. / In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.

Revelation 18:10-19
In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” / And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo— / cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; ...

Matthew 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ / At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Luke 21:25-26
There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves. / Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Revelation 6:15-17
Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. / And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. / For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. / While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.


Treasury of Scripture

She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melts, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

She is.

empty.

Nahum 3:7
And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Isaiah 13:19-22
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah…

the heart.

Joshua 2:11
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

Psalm 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

Isaiah 13:7,8
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: …

the knees.

Daniel 5:6
Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

and much.

Isaiah 21:3
Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

Jeremiah 30:6
Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

and the faces.

Joel 2:6
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

Jump to Previous
Anguish Blackness Bodies Body Colour Convulsion Desolate Desolation Emptied Empty Face Faces Faint Gather Gathered Grow Grown Grows Heart Hearts Knees Knock Knocking Loins Melt Melteth Melting Melts Pain Pale Pillaged Plundered Ruin Shaking Smite Stripped Together Tremble Turned Twisted Void Waste Water Waxed Way Whole Writhing
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Anguish Blackness Bodies Body Colour Convulsion Desolate Desolation Emptied Empty Face Faces Faint Gather Gathered Grow Grown Grows Heart Hearts Knees Knock Knocking Loins Melt Melteth Melting Melts Pain Pale Pillaged Plundered Ruin Shaking Smite Stripped Together Tremble Turned Twisted Void Waste Water Waxed Way Whole Writhing
Nahum 2
1. The fearful and victorious armies of God against Nineveh.














She is emptied!
The phrase "She is emptied!" refers to the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Hebrew root word for "emptied" is "bûq," which conveys the idea of being thoroughly emptied or drained. Historically, Nineveh was a city of immense wealth and power, but this prophecy foretells its complete desolation. The imagery of being emptied signifies the total loss of resources, people, and power, highlighting the divine judgment against a city that once stood as a symbol of human pride and arrogance.

Yes, she is desolate and laid waste!
The words "desolate and laid waste" further emphasize the total destruction of Nineveh. The Hebrew word for "desolate" is "bûqâh," which is closely related to the word for "emptied," reinforcing the idea of utter ruin. "Laid waste" comes from the Hebrew "mêbûqâh," suggesting a state of devastation and ruin. This reflects the historical reality that Nineveh, once a thriving metropolis, was left in ruins, fulfilling Nahum's prophecy. The repetition of these terms underscores the certainty and completeness of God's judgment.

Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble
This vivid imagery describes the terror and fear that grips the inhabitants of Nineveh. "Hearts melt" uses the Hebrew "māsas," indicating a complete loss of courage and strength. "Knees knock" and "bodies tremble" paint a picture of physical manifestations of fear, suggesting a profound sense of helplessness and panic. This reaction is not only a response to the physical destruction but also to the realization of divine judgment. It serves as a reminder of the power and sovereignty of God over nations and individuals.

and every face grows pale!
The phrase "every face grows pale" captures the universal fear and dread experienced by the people. The Hebrew word "pārûr" for "pale" suggests a loss of color due to fear or shock. This imagery is consistent with other biblical descriptions of fear and judgment, where the physical appearance reflects the inner turmoil and realization of impending doom. It serves as a powerful reminder of the consequences of turning away from God and the inevitable judgment that follows.

(10) And the faces of them all gather blackness.--Better, perhaps, and all faces withdraw their brightness. (See Note on Joel 2:6, where the same expression occurs.)

Verse 10. - She is empty, and void, and waste. Bukahum bukah, um bulakah. The three words are of very similar meaning and sound, and express most forcibly the utter ruin of the city. A Latin commentator has endeavoured to imitate the Hebrew paronomasia by rendering them, "vacuitas, evacuatio, evanidatio" - a translation more ingenious than classical. The paronomasia is better rendered by "vastitas, vastitia, vacuitas," and the German, "leer und ausgeleert und verheert." "Sack and sacking and ransacking" (Gandell). An analogous combination of words is found in Isaiah 24:3, 4; Isaiah 29:2, 3; Ezekiel 33:29; Zephaniah 1:15. Septuagint, ἐκτιναγμὸς, καὶ ἀνατιναγμὸς καὶ ἐκβρασμός, "thrusting forth and spurning and tumult." The heart melteth. A common expression for fear and despondency (Joshua 7:5; Isaiah 13:7; Ezekiel 21:7). The knees smite together (Daniel 5:6). So in Homer continually, λύτο γούνατα. Much pain is in all loins. The anguish as of childbirth. Septuagint, ὠδῖνες, "labour pains," in contrast with the injunction in ver. 1 (comp. Isaiah 13:8; Isaiah 21:3; Jeremiah 30:6). Gather blackness (Joel 2:6); or, Withdraw their colour; i.e. wax pale. But the Hebrew rather implies that the faces assume a livid hue, like that of coming death. Hence the LXX. renders, ὡς πρόσκαυμα χύτρας, as the burning of an earthen vessel, which is blackened by the fire; and Jerome, sicut nigredo ollae (comp. Jeremiah 30:6).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
She is emptied!
בּוּקָ֥ה (bū·qāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 950: Emptiness

Yes, she is desolate
וּמְבוּקָ֖ה (ū·mə·ḇū·qāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4003: Emptiness

and laid waste!
וּמְבֻלָּקָ֑ה (ū·mə·ḇul·lā·qāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Pual - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 1110: To waste, lay waste

Hearts
וְלֵ֨ב (wə·lêḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

melt,
נָמֵ֜ס (nā·mês)
Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 4549: To liquefy, to waste, to faint

knees
בִּרְכַּ֗יִם (bir·ka·yim)
Noun - fd
Strong's 1290: The knee

knock,
וּפִ֣ק (ū·p̄iq)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6375: Tottering, staggering

bodies
מָתְנַ֔יִם (mā·ṯə·na·yim)
Noun - md
Strong's 4975: The waist, small of the back, the loins

tremble,
וְחַלְחָלָה֙ (wə·ḥal·ḥā·lāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2479: Writhing, terror

and every
בְּכָל־ (bə·ḵāl)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

face
וּפְנֵ֥י (ū·p̄ə·nê)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

grows pale!
קִבְּצ֥וּ (qib·bə·ṣū)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6908: To gather, collect


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OT Prophets: Nahum 2:10 She is empty void and waste (Nah. Na)
Nahum 2:9
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