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Tuesday, May 6th, 2025
the Third Week after Easter
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Nahum 2:5

The enemy calls for his best soldiers. They stumble as they rush ahead. They run to the wall and set up their shield over the battering ram.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - War;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Media;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Elkosh;   Nahum (2);   Holman Bible Dictionary - Nahum;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fortification and Siegecraft;   Nahum;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Assyria;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gallant;   Mantelet;   Nahum, the Book of;   Siege;   Worthies;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Revelation (Book of);  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He gives orders to his officers;they stumble as they advance.They race to its wall;the protective shield is set in place.
Hebrew Names Version
He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.
King James Version (1611)
Hee shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walke: they shall make haste to the wal thereof, and the defence shall bee prepared.
King James Version
He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.
English Standard Version
He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up.
New American Standard Bible
He remembers his officers; They stumble in their advance, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up.
New Century Version
He calls his officers, but they stumble on the way. They hurry to the city wall, and the shield is put into place.
Amplified Bible
He remembers and summons his nobles; They stumble in their march [terrified because of the attack]. They hurry to the city wall, And the mantelet is prepared and firmly set up.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He shall remember his strong men: they shall stumble as they goe: they shall make haste to the walles thereof, and the defence shall bee prepared.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their march, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up.
Legacy Standard Bible
He remembers his mighty ones;They stumble in their march;They hurry to her wall,And the mantelet is set up.
Berean Standard Bible
He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
Contemporary English Version
An officer gives a command. But his soldiers stumble, as they hasten to build a shelter to protect themselves against rocks thrown down from the city wall.
Complete Jewish Bible
The chariots rush madly about in the streets, jostling each other in the open places; their appearance is like torches, they run here and there like lightning.
Darby Translation
He bethinketh him of his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the shelter is prepared.
George Lamsa Translation
The soldiers are obedient to their officers; they stumble as they march; they make haste to the wall, and the battlements are prepared.
Good News Translation
The officers are summoned; they stumble as they press forward. The attackers rush to the wall and set up the shield for the battering ram.
Lexham English Bible
He calls his officers; they stumble as they march; they rush to her wall; they set the covering in place.
Literal Translation
He shall remember its nobles; they shall stumble in their walking; they shall hurry to its wall, and the covering shall be set up.
American Standard Version
He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
Bible in Basic English
He takes the record of his great men: they go falling on their way; they go quickly to the wall, the cover is made ready.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The chariots rush madly in the streets, they jostle one against another in the broad places; the appearance of them is like torches, they run to and fro like the lightnings.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He shall remember his notable souldiours, they shal stumble in goyng, they shall hasten to the wall, the couering fence is prepared.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And their mighty men shall bethink themselves and flee by day; and they shall be weak as they go; and they shall hasten to her walls, and shall prepare their defences.
English Revised Version
He remembereth his worthies: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
World English Bible
He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He schal bithenke of his stronge men, thei schulen falle in her weies; and swiftli thei schulen stie on the wallis therof, and schadewyng place schal be maad redi.
Update Bible Version
He remembers his nobles: they stumble in their march; they hurry to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
Webster's Bible Translation
He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense shall be prepared.
New English Translation
The commander orders his officers; they stumble as they advance; they rush to the city wall and they set up the covered siege tower.
New King James Version
He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their walk; They make haste to her walls, And the defense is prepared.
New Living Translation
The king shouts to his officers; they stumble in their haste, rushing to the walls to set up their defenses.
New Life Bible
The leaders are called. They lose their step as they go, and hurry to the wall. The battle-covering is set up.
New Revised Standard
He calls his officers; they stumble as they come forward; they hasten to the wall, and the mantelet is set up.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Let him call to mind his nobles, they shall stumble as they go - let them hasten to her wall, yet the storming cover, is prepared.
Douay-Rheims Bible
He will muster up his valiant men, they shall stumble in their march: they shall quickly get upon the walls thereof: and a covering shall be prepared.
Revised Standard Version
The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up.
Young's Literal Translation
He doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten [to] its wall, and prepared is the covering.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
When he doth but warne his giauntes, they fall in their araye, & haistely they clymme vp the walles: yee the engyns of the warre are prepared all ready.

Contextual Overview

1 An enemy is coming to attack you, so guard the strong places of your city. Watch the road. Get ready for war. Prepare for battle! 2 Yes, the Lord changed Jacob's pride. He made it like Israel's pride. The enemy destroyed them and ruined their grapevines. 3 The shields of his soldiers are red. Their uniforms are bright red. Their chariots are shining like flames of fire and are lined up for battle. Their horses are ready to go. 4 The chariots race wildly through the streets and rush back and forth through the square. They look like burning torches, like lightning flashing from place to place! 5 The enemy calls for his best soldiers. They stumble as they rush ahead. They run to the wall and set up their shield over the battering ram. 6 But the gates by the rivers are open, and the enemy comes flooding in and destroys the king's palace. 7 The enemy takes away the queen, and her slave girls moan sadly like doves. They beat their breasts to show their sadness. 8 Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away. People yell, "Stop! Stop running away!" But it does not do any good. 9 Take the silver! Take the gold! There are many things to take. There are many treasures. 10 Now Nineveh is empty. Everything is stolen. The city is ruined. People have lost their courage, their hearts melt with fear, their knees knock together, their bodies shake, and their faces turn pale.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

recount: Isaiah 21:5, Jeremiah 50:29, Jeremiah 51:27, Jeremiah 51:28

worthies: or, gallants

they shall stumble: Nahum 3:3, Isaiah 5:27, Jeremiah 46:12

defence: or, covering, or, coverer

Reciprocal: Revelation 9:9 - and the

Cross-References

Genesis 2:9
Then the Lord God caused all the beautiful trees that were good for food to grow in the garden. In the middle of the garden, he put the tree of life and the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil.
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first river was Pishon. This river flowed around the entire country of Havilah.
Genesis 2:12
(There is gold in that country, and that gold is pure. A kind of expensive perfume and onyx are also found there.)
Genesis 3:23
So the Lord God forced the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he was made from.
Genesis 4:2
Eve gave birth again to Cain's brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd, and Cain became a farmer.
Genesis 4:12
Now when you work the soil, the ground will not help your plants grow. You will not have a home in this land. You will wander from place to place."
Job 5:10
He sends rain all over the earth and waters the fields.
Psalms 104:14
You make the grass grow to feed the animals. You provide plants for the crops we grow— the plants that give us food from the earth.
Psalms 135:7
He brings the clouds from the other side of the earth. He sends the lightning and the rain, and he opens the doors to release the winds.
Jeremiah 14:22
Foreign idols don't have the power to bring rain. The sky does not have the power to send down showers of rain. You, the Lord our God, are our only hope. You are the one who made all these things.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He shall recount his worthies,.... Either the dasher in pieces, Nahum 2:1, the kings of Babylon and Media, shall call together their general officers, and muster the forces under then, and put them in mind of their duty, and recount the actions of their ancestors in former times, in order to animate and encourage them to the siege and attack of the city of Nineveh; or the king of Assyria shall recount and muster up his nobles, and the troops under them, to sally out against the enemy, and meet him in the field, and give him battle:

they shall stumble in their walk: being many, and in haste to obey the orders of their commander, shall stumble and fall upon one another; or else the Ninevites in their march out against the enemy shall be discomfited and flee before him, or be dispirited and flee back again:

they shall make haste to the wall thereof; of Nineveh; that is, the Medes and Chaldeans shall make haste thither, to break it down or scale it; or the Ninevites, failing in their sally out, shall betake themselves in all haste to their city walls, and defend themselves under the protection of them:

and the defence shall be prepared; or the "covering": the word h used has the signification of a booth or tent, to cover and protect; here it signifies something that was prepared, either by the besiegers, to cover them from the darts and stones of the besieged, as they made their approaches to the walls; or which the besieged covered themselves with from the assaults of the besiegers; rather the former.

h הסוכך "operimentum", Pagninus, Montanus; "integumentum", Calvin; "testudo", Vatablus, Grotius, Cocceius, Burkius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He shall recount his worthies - The Assyrian king wakes as out of a sleep, literally, “he remembers his mighty men” (as Nahum 3:18; Judges 5:13; Nehemiah 3:5); “they stumble in their walk,” literally, paths , not through haste only and eager fear, but from want of inward might and the aid of God. These whom God leads stumble not Isaiah 63:13. : “Perplexed every way and not knowing what they ought to do, their mind wholly darkened and almost drunken with ills, they reel to and fro, turn from one thing to another, and in all” labor in vain.

They shall make haste to the walls thereof, and the defense - (literally, “the covering”) shall be prepared The Assyrian monuments leave no doubt that a Jewish writer is right in the main, in describing this as a covered shelter, under which an enemy approached the city; “a covering of planks with skins upon them; under it those who fight against the city come to the wall and mine the wall underneath, and it is a shield over them from the stones, which are cast from off the wall.”

The monuments, however, exhibit this shelter, as connected not with mining but with a battering ram, mostly with a sharp point, by which they loosened the walls . Another covert was employed to protect single miners who picked out single stones with a pick-axe . The Assyrians sculptures show, in the means employed against or in defense of their engines, how central a part of the siege they formed . Seven of them are represented in one siege . The “ram” Ezekiel 4:2 is mentioned in Ezekiel as the well-known and ordinary instrument of a siege.

Thus, Nahum 2:3 describes the attack; and Nahum 2:4 describes the defense; the two first clauses of Nahum 2:5 describes the defense; the two last describe clauses the attack. This quick interchange only makes the whole account more vivid.

: “But what avails it to build the house, unless the Lord build it? What helps it to shut the gates, which the Lord unbarreth?” On both sides is put forth the full strength of man; there seems a stand-still to see, what will be, and God brings to pass His own work in His own way.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 5. He shall recount his worthies — Muster up his most renowned warriors and heroes.

Shall make haste to the wall — Where they see the enemies making their most powerful attacks, in order to get possession of the city.


 
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