Verse Lens · Context pointer
Nahum 2:8 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 8. 8But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Names Nineveh as a long-standing pool whose people now drain away despite repeated cries for them to stop.
Read It With
- Nahum 2:3-10
Read Nahum 2:8 with 2:3-10. Names Nineveh as a long-standing pool whose people now drain away despite repeated cries for them to stop. The complete unit establishes this movement: Rapid poetic snapshots make Nineveh's seeming invulnerability dissolve into breached defenses, flight, plunder, emptiness, and terror; the scene is crafted battle poetry, not a complete factual chronicle.
Why It Needs Context
Names Nineveh as a long-standing pool whose people now drain away despite repeated cries for them to stop. That contribution depends on Nahum 2:3-10; isolated teaching would detach this image from the complete poetic movement.
Read Nahum 2:3–10 together
Why these verses belong together: The sustained siege vision moves from flashing attackers through breach, flight, plunder, and embodied terror.
Verse 3. 3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
Verse 4. 4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
Verse 5. 5 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.
Verse 6. 6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
Verse 7. 7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
Verse 8. 8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
Verse 9. 9 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.
Verse 10. 10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nahum 2:3-10 — The Battle Vision Moves from Flashing Assault to Empty TerrorSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Nahum 2:3-10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nahum
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew words, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, names, and the base wording behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Nah.xml, 2:3-10
Open source ↗