Nahum 2:8 (DRB)

Passage

And as for Ninive, her waters are like a great pool: but the men flee away. They cry: Stand, stand, but there is none that will return back.

Nearby Context

Nahum 2:6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is thrown down to the ground.

Nahum 2:7 And the soldier is led away captive: and her bondwomen were led away mourning as doves, murmuring in their hearts.

Nahum 2:8 And as for Ninive, her waters are like a great pool: but the men flee away. They cry: Stand, stand, but there is none that will return back.

Nahum 2:9 Take ye the spoil of the silver, take the spoil of the gold: for there is no end of the riches of all the precious furniture.

Nahum 2:10 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ninive", "waters", "like", "great", "pool", "flee", "away", and "stand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ninive" and "waters", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "And the soldier is led away captive..." into verse 9's "Take ye the spoil of the silver...", so "ninive" and "waters" 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 "ninive" and "waters" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.