Reading for January 22nd

 Read Nahum 2.1-9. In 2.1-3.7: Nineveh is attacked. The detailed descriptions of a military assault on Nineveh and of battles in its streets anticipate the immanent end of the city. In 2.1: The shatterer (or "scatterer") is the enemy army attacking Nineveh. In verse 2: This verse appears to be out of place, as the paracenteses added by the translators indicate. It describes the restoration of Judah, interrupting the narrative of the attack on Nineveh. it probably once followed 1.15 or is a later scribal addition. In verses 3-5: The description of the army attacking Nineveh continues from 1.5: the Hebrew term translated by "mantelet" is a noun from the root, "weave," and may be a woven shield to protect soldiers in battle. In verse 6: These river gates controlled a network of canals the brought water into Nineveh from the Tigris and Khoser rivers nearby. They appear to have been opened by the enemy to flood the city (v. 8). Comments or Questions..