Where 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?
Parallel translations
- WEB Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?
- KJV Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?
- NKJV Where is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, And no one made them afraid?
- NASB Where is the den of the lions And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub went With nothing to disturb them?
- NLT Where now is that great Nineveh, that den filled with young lions? It was a place where people—like lions and their cubs— walked freely and without fear.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Nahum mockingly asks what became of the lions' den, the image of Assyria's predatory power. The once-fearsome empire is gone.
Overview
Assyria proudly used the lion as a royal symbol and was notorious for devouring weaker nations. Nahum taunts that the lair where these predators dwelt unafraid is now deserted. The image exposes the emptiness of brutal power, which God brings to nothing in his time.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 5:29Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance.
- Jer 2:15The young lions have roared at him; they have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
- Jer 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
- Isa 31:4For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.
- Jer 50:44Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- Jer 50:17Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- Nah 3:1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
- Zeph 3:3Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.
- Job 4:10–11The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- Ezek 19:2–8and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.
- Gen 49:9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
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Christ at the center
The certain judgment on Nineveh and the comfort that 'the LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble' point to Christ, who is both the refuge of his people and the judge of their enemies.
How Nahum 2:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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