Loot the silver! Plunder the gold! There’s no end to Nineveh’s treasures— its vast, uncounted wealth.
Parallel translations
- WEB Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
- KJV Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
- BSB “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
- NKJV Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, Or wealth of every desirable prize.
- NASB Plunder the silver, Plunder the gold! For there is no end to the treasure— Wealth from every kind of desirable object.
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
The conquerors are told to plunder Nineveh's endless silver, gold, and treasures. The wealth Assyria amassed by violence is now seized by others.
Overview
Nineveh had grown rich through conquest and tribute extracted from many nations. Now its boundless store becomes spoil for its enemies, a fitting reversal of its plundering ways. This illustrates the biblical principle that ill-gotten gain offers no lasting security and that God can transfer it in a moment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 2 Chr 36:10At the return of the year, king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of Yahweh’s house, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
- Ezek 26:12They shall make a plunder of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the middle of the waters.
- Dan 11:8Also their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, shall he carry captive into Egypt; and he shall refrain some years from the king of the north.
- Isa 33:4Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
- Nah 2:12–13The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.
- Jer 51:56For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for Yahweh is a God of recompenses. He will surely repay.
- Jer 25:34Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.
- Isa 33:1Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed.
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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 2:9 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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