Bible Strands
Nahum 2:12
The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Nahum addresses the impending collapse of Nineveh, using a lion’s feeding habits to illustrate the city’s former predatory dominance.
The words — The Hebrew טֹרֵף (to.ref, "tearing") and מְחַנֵּק (me.cha.Nek, "strangling") describe the violent capture of prey, while וַ/יְמַלֵּא (va/y.ma.le', "it filled") notes the complete accumulation of spoils in the den.
The thread — This predatory motif echoes Psalms 17:12's description of a lion lurking in ambush and Isaiah 10:6's depiction of a nation used to seize spoils.
Why it lands — The text states that Nineveh's dens were packed with the violent spoils of conquest, establishing the concrete basis for the divine judgment declared in Nahum 2:13.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.
- Psalms 17:12 like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.