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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The city, or its queen, is led into captivity while her attendants mourn like cooing doves, beating their breasts in grief.
What Does Nahum 2:7 Mean?
This verse is difficult; Huzzab may name a queen, an idol, or stand for the city itself personified, now stripped and carried off into exile. Her handmaids escort her with the low, mournful sound the prophet likens to the cooing of doves, beating upon their breasts in grief. The proud capital that led so many into captivity is now herself led away. The mighty becomes the mourner, and triumph turns to a funeral procession.
The dove's cry is one of Scripture's gentlest sounds of sorrow, and here it gives a strangely tender note to the city's downfall. Even in judgment the human cost is felt; grief is real, and the prophet does not gloat over it but lets it sound. There is a solemn justice in seeing the oppressor experience the very fate it dealt to others. Yet the scene also stirs compassion, for the God who judges takes no delight in death and would rather the wicked turn and live. The reader is left soberly aware that the wages of cruelty come home at last.