Nahum 2 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 2:1, 2:2, 2:3, 2:4, 2:8, 2:14
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 2
The siege and the emptied lion’s den
Verse 2:1 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:1 Look, upon the mountains are the feet of one bringing good news, announcing peace! Celebrate your feasts, Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked one will never again pass through you; he is entirely cut off.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:1 Look, upon the mountains are the feet of one bringing good news and announcing peace! Celebrate your feasts, Judah; repay your vows. For they will no longer pass through you into decay. It has been completed; it has been removed.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek has plural passing and the difficult eis palaiōsin, “into decay,” rather than Hebrew's wicked one entirely cut off. Saints: Augustine, City of God XVIII.31, treats the connected passage corresponding to source 1:14–2:2 as a prophecy of Christ, the defeat of idols, His rising and breathing the Spirit upon the disciples, and renewed worship. This is attributed Christian interpretation of a block, not a separate exposition of every verse. The accessed Dods English presentation attaches swift to the messenger’s feet and has wording beyond the selected Greek at 2:1; it does not alter this translation. [AUG-NAH]
Biblical connection — Verbal and thematic parallel: Isaiah 52:7. Compare the herald's good news and announcement of peace. Romans 10:15 also uses this herald imagery; similarity alone does not establish that Paul quotes Nahum rather than Isaiah.
Verse 2:2 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:2 A scatterer has come up against you. Guard the fortress; watch the road; brace your waist; greatly strengthen your might.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:2 One who breathes into your face has come up, rescuing from affliction. Watch the road; hold your waist firm; act courageously with great strength,
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew's hostile scatterer and command to guard a fortress become Greek's breathing figure rescuing from affliction. The military preparations thus receive a substantially different opening agent and purpose. Saints: For Augustine’s interpretation of the connected 1:14–2:2 passage, see the note at 2:1 [AUG-NAH].
Verse 2:3 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:3 For YHWH is restoring Jacob's majesty, like Israel's majesty; for ravagers ravaged them and ruined their vine branches.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:3 because the Lord turned away Jacob's arrogance, as Israel's arrogance; for those shaking them out shook out both them and their vine branches; they ruined
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew restoration of majesty contrasts with Greek removal of hubris. Greek's “they ruined” takes the weapons in 2:4 as its following object; the source boundary is preserved. The people and vine branches are coordinated objects of the Greek shaking-out verb.
Verse 2:4 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:4 His warriors' shields are reddened; the soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots flash with fiery metal on the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are brandished.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:4 the weapons of their might from among people, mighty men playing in fire. The reins of their chariots are on the day of his preparation, and the horsemen will be thrown into uproar
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: The Greek continues 2:3's destruction, with weapons and mighty men; Hebrew describes reddened shields and scarlet soldiers. Cypress wood/spears becomes Greek horsemen. Rare Hebrew pelādôt and the elliptical Greek reins clause remain provisional.
Verse 2:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:5 Chariots race wildly in the streets, rushing about in the squares. Their appearance is like torches; they dart like lightning.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:5 in the roads, and the chariots will be thrown into confusion and entangled in the squares; their appearance is like torches of fire and lightning flashing past.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew describes racing; Greek describes confusion and entanglement. The luminous comparison agrees; Greek's roads phrase completes the horsemen clause of 2:4.
Verse 2:6 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:6 He recalls his nobles; they stumble as they go. They hurry to her wall, and the protective screen is prepared.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:6 Their nobles will remember and flee by day; they will weaken on their journey, hurry to the walls and prepare their defenses.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds daytime flight and makes the nobles remembering subjects. Hebrew's singular preparation of a screen becomes plural defenses; the initial Hebrew subject is unnamed.
Verse 2:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:7 The river gates are opened, and the palace melts away.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:7 The river gates were opened, and the royal palace collapsed.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The opening gates and ruin of the palace correspond, with melting versus collapse imagery.
Verse 2:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:8 It is decreed: she is stripped and led away, her slave women moaning like the sound of doves, beating upon their breasts.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:8 The foundation was uncovered, and she was going up, and her slave women were being led away like doves murmuring in their hearts.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew's difficult huṣṣaḇ is construed as decree, Greek hypostasis as foundation. Greek has inward murmuring where Hebrew describes breast beating. The exposed subject and lament actions change.
Verse 2:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:9 Nineveh has been like a pool of water since her earliest days, yet they are fleeing. “Stop! Stop!” But no one turns back.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:9 Nineveh—her waters are like a swimming pool; they were fleeing and did not stop, and there was no one looking back.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek has the city's waters rather than Hebrew's temporal phrase and turns repeated commands to stop into a reported failure to stop.
Verse 2:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:10 Plunder silver! Plunder gold! There is no end to the stored wealth, an abundance of every precious vessel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:10 They were plundering silver; they were plundering gold. There was no limit to her adornment; they have been weighed down beyond all her desirable vessels.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew gives plundering commands; Greek narrates plunder and an obscure weighing-down clause. The limitless treasure corresponds; the Greek final syntax remains provisional.
Verse 2:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:11 Emptiness, desolation and devastation! Hearts melt, knees give way, all waists tremble, and every face gathers pallor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:11 Shaking out, tossing up and boiling over; broken hearts, loosening knees, pangs at every waist, and every face like the scorching of a pot.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both accumulate collapse and bodily fear, but Greek substitutes shaking/boiling images and pot scorching for Hebrew's difficult pāʾrûr, provisionally pallor.
Verse 2:12 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:12 Where is the lions' dwelling and the feeding place of young lions, where lion and lioness went, and the lion's cub, with no one frightening them?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:12 Where is the lions' dwelling and the pasture that belonged to the cubs, where a lion went to enter there, a lion's cub, and no one frightened them?
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Hebrew's lion-family sequence includes lāḇîʾ, here lioness; Greek lacks that separate animal and instead speaks of entering the dwelling.
Verse 2:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:13 The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his dens with prey and his dwellings with torn flesh.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:13 A lion seized enough for his cubs and strangled for his lions; he filled his nest with game and his dwelling with plunder.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek has lions rather than explicitly female lionesses and nest/game/plunder for the Hebrew dens and repeated torn prey.
Verse 2:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
2:14 Look, I am against you, declares YHWH of hosts. I will burn her chariots into smoke; the sword will consume your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
2:14 Look, I am against you, says the Lord Almighty. I will burn your multitude in smoke; the sword will consume your lions. I will destroy your game from the earth, and your deeds will never again be heard.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew chariots become Greek multitude, and messengers' voice becomes deeds. The objects destroyed and the public activity silenced therefore differ substantially.