Nahum 2:10 (DBY)

Passage

She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and writhing pain is in all loins, and all their faces grow pale.

Nearby Context

Nahum 2:8 Nineveh hath been like a pool of water, since the day she existed, yet they flee away. Stand! Stand! But none looketh back.

Nahum 2:9 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold; for there is no end of the splendid store of all precious vessels.

Nahum 2:10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and writhing pain is in all loins, and all their faces grow pale.

Nahum 2:11 Where is [now] the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, the lioness, [and] the lion's whelp walked, and none made them afraid?

Nahum 2:12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "empty", "void", "waste", "heart", "melteth", "knees", "smite", and "together". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "empty" and "void", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "Plunder the silver plunder the gold for..." into verse 11's "Where is now the den of the...", so "empty" and "void" belong inside that flow. In Nahum context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "empty" and "void" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.