Nahum Chapter 2 verse 2 Holy Bible
For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches.
read chapter 2 in ASV
A crusher has come up before your face: keep a good look-out, let the way be watched, make yourself strong, let your power be greatly increased.
read chapter 2 in BBE
For Jehovah hath brought again the glory of Jacob, as the glory of Israel; for the wasters have wasted them, and marred their vine-branches.
read chapter 2 in DARBY
For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
read chapter 2 in KJV
read chapter 2 in WBT
For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.
read chapter 2 in WEB
For turned back hath Jehovah to the excellency of Jacob, As `to' the excellency of Israel, For emptied them out have emptiers, And their branches they have marred.
read chapter 2 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - This ruin shall fall on Nineveh because God is mindful of his chosen people, whom Assyria has oppressed. Hath turned away. It should be rendered, returneth to, or restoreth, bringeth back; reddidit (Vulgate); Isaiah 52:8; Hosea 6:11. The excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel. The Lord restores the glory and honour of Jacob, the nation in its political aspect, and the high privileges of the spiritual Israel, the chosen people of God (comp. Obadiah 1:18). For. Asshur is visited because Judah has had its full measure of punishment. The emptiers have emptied them out. The plunderers (the enemy) have plundered the Jews. And marred their vine branches. The heathen have cut off the members of Israel, the Lord's vineyard. (For the metaphor "vine," comp. Psalm 80:8, etc.; Isaiah 5; Jeremiah 41:10.) Not only from what is read in the Bible (e.g.. 2 Kings 15:19; 2 Kings 16:7, etc.; 2 Kings 17:3; 18:14), but from the details in the cuneiform inscriptions, we learn that the Assyrians were a constant danger and annoyance to Israel, and harassed continually both the southern and northern provinces.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) Better, For Jehovah restores the glory of Jacob, so that it is as the glory of [ancient] Israel, though the plunderers plundered them and marred their vine shoots. The sacred nation is Jehovah's vine, destined to send out its tendrils all over the earth. But Jehovah has allowed its hedge to be broken down. "All they that go by do pluck her . . ." (Psalm 80:12-13). In the punishment of one notoriously oppressive world-power the prophet sees a pledge that the branch of Jehovah shall be again "beautiful and glorious" (Isaiah 4:2). The construction in the first part of the verse is perplexing. It appears best to attach a special emphasis to the names "Jacob" and "Israel" in connection with their original signification. "Jacob" is the birth-name--the nation regarded apart from its religious privileges, the homeless exile, the downtrodden "worm (Isaiah 41:14), the younger son among nations. But "Israel" is the chosen of God; he who "had power over the angel and prevailed"; the "beloved son, called out of Egypt." The name given by Jehovah is henceforth to have its full significance, as in the days of old. "Jacob," the name which is so often used after the deportation of the ten tribes, is again to be indicated as "Israel," the favoured people of God. Some commentators render, "For Jehovah restores alike the glory of Jacob and the glory of Israel," &c., making "Jacob" the designation of the southern, "Israel" that of the northern kingdom. But the term "Jacob" nowhere else has this distinctive force.
