The City's Fall: Chapter 2 describes an attack on a city. Once again there is just one indication that the city is Nineveh (v. 8). For the most part the account could apply to any city, and Judeans would be wise to reflect on the way it might apply to Jerusalem; it is quite similar to prophetic threats concerning Jerusalem (see, for instance, Isa. 10:28–34). Indeed, the way it follows straight on from 1:15 pushes us in that direction, especially if we read it in light of the Masoretes’ chapter division where chapter 2 begins with what English translations treat as the last verse in chapter 1 (see the additional note on 1:15).

One could imagine that the picture describes something happening before the prophet’s eyes, and in a sense it does so, but it has not yet actually happened; it takes p…