Nahum 2:12
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Nineveh, like a lion, had torn and hoarded the spoil of the nations, filling its dens with the plunder of its violence.
What Does Nahum 2:12 Mean?
The lion image continues into Nineveh's predatory past. Like a beast providing for its pride, the empire tore its victims in pieces and strangled prey, filling its lairs with the spoils of conquest. The dens stuffed with ravin describe a capital glutted with the wealth and captives wrung from ravaged nations. The picture is of insatiable plunder, year after year, generation after generation, hoarded behind the city walls.
By recalling this violent history, the prophet makes clear that the judgment now falling is no arbitrary stroke. The lion that filled its dens by tearing others is being held to account. There is a moral order beneath the events of history; what is gathered by cruelty is gathered before a watching God. The verse exposes the lie that strength may simply take and keep without reckoning. The same God who notes every act of violence also notes every cup of cold water given in His name, and He will not fail to bring each into the light. Plunder builds no lasting house.