Nineveh: Encyclopedia II - Nineveh - Biblical Nineveh

Nineveh - Biblical Nineveh

In the Bible, Nineveh is first mentioned in Gen. 10:11, which is rendered in the Revised Version, "He [i.e., Nimrod] went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh."

It is not again noticed till the days of Jonah, when it is described (Jonah 3:3ff; 4:11) as an "exceeding great city of three days' journey", i.e., probably in circuit. This would give a circumference of about 100 km (60 miles). At the four corners of an irregular quadrangle are the ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimrud, Karamless and Khorsabad. These four great masses of ruins, with the whole area included within the parallelogram they form by lines drawn from the one to the other, are generally regarded as composing the whole ruins of Nineveh.

Nineveh was the flourishing capital of the Assyrian empire (2 Kings 19:36; Isa. 37:37). The book of the prophet Nahum is almost exclusively taken up with prophetic denunciations against this city. Its ruin and utter desolation are foretold (Nah.1:14; 3:19, etc.). Its end was strange, sudden, tragic. (Nah. 2:6-11) According to the Bible, it was God's doing, his judgement on Assyria's pride (Isa. 10:5-19). In fulfilment of prophecy, God made "an utter end of the place". It became a "desolation". Zephaniah also (2:13-15) predicts its destruction along with the fall of the empire of which it was the capital.

Nineveh's exemplary pride and fall are recalled in the Gospel of Matthew (12:41) and the Gospel of Luke (11:32).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biblical Nineveh", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki