Nahum 2 · Verse 6

Nahum 2:6

The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

Nahum 2:6, King James Version

Nahum 2:6 in other translations

BSB	The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
WEB	The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
ASV	The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
YLT	Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.
DARBY	The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melteth away.
BBE	The river doorways are forced open, and the king's house is flowing away.
Webster	The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

What does Nahum 2:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

6. The gates of the rivers ... opened--The river wall on the Tigris (the west defense of Nineveh) was 4,530 yards long. On the north, south, and east sides, there were large moats, capable of being easily filled with water from the Khosru. Traces of dams ("gates," or sluices) for regulating the supply are still visible, so that the whole city could be surrounded with a water barrier (Na 2:8). Besides, on the east, the weakest side, it was further protected by a lofty double rampart with a moat two hundred feet wide between its two parts, cut in the rocky ground. The moats or canals, flooded by the Ninevites before the siege to repel the foe, were made a dry bed to march into the city, by the foe turning the waters into a different channel: as Cyrus did in the siege of Babylon [Maurer]. In the earlier capture of Nineveh by Arbaces the Mede, and Belesis the Babylonian, Diodorus Siculus, [1.2.80], states that there was an old prophecy that it should not be taken till the river became its enemy; so in the third year of the siege, the river by a flood broke down the walls twenty furlongs, and the king thereupon burnt himself and his palace and all his concubines and wealth together, and the enemy entered by the breach in the wall. Fire and water were doubtless the means of the second destruction here foretold, as of the first. dissolved--by the inundation [Henderson]. Or, those in the palace shall melt with fear, namely, the king and his nobles [Grotius].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened - I have already referred to this, see the note on Nah 1:8; but it will be necessary to be more particular. The account given by Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii., is very surprising. He begins thus: Ην δ' αυτῳ λογιον παραδεδομενον εκ προγονων, κ.τ.λ. - "There was a prophecy received from their forefathers, that Nineveh should not be taken till the river first became an enemy to the city. It happened in the third year of the siege, that the Euphrates [query, Tigris] being swollen with continued rains, overflowed part of the city, and threw down twenty stadia of the wall. The king then imagining that the oracle was accomplished, and that the river was now manifestly become an enemy to the city, casting aside all hope of safety, and lest he should fall into the hands of the enemy, built a large funeral pyre in the palace, (εν τοις βασιλειοις), and having collected all his gold and silver and royal vestments, together with his concubines and eunuchs, placed himself with them in a little apartment built in the pyre; burnt them, himself, and the palace together. When the death of the king (Sardanapalus) was announced by certain deserters, the enemy entered in by the breach which the waters had made, and took the city." Thus the prophecy of Nahum was literally fulfilled:" the gates of the river were opened, and the palace dissolved," i.e., burnt.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Nahum 2:1-10

Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or…

Read the full comment on Nahum 2:1-10 →

Nahum 2:6 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שַׁעֲרֵ֥יsha.'a.Rei[the] gates ofH8179

הַנְּהָר֖וֹתha.ne.ha.Rotthe riversH5104

נִפְתָּ֑חוּnif.Ta.chuthey have been openedH6605

וְהַֽהֵיכָ֖לve.ha.hei.Khaland the palaceH1964

נָמֽוֹג\׃na.Mogit has melted awayH4127

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Nahum 2:6

Isaiah 45:1-2
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
2 Peter 3:10-11
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

gates.
Isa 45:1,2
dissolved. or, molten.
2Pe 3:10,11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Nahum 2:5
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.
Nahum 2:6
The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
Nahum 2:7
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.

Read all of Nahum 2

Nahum 2:6 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Las puertas de los ríos se abrirán, y el palacio será destruído.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Il pense à ses vaillants hommes: ils trébuchent dans leur marche, ils se hâtent vers la muraille, et l’abri est préparé.
German Elberfelder 1871	Die Tore an den Strömen sind geöffnet, und der Palast verzagt.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Portæ fluviorum apertæ sunt, et templum ad solum dirutum.