Chapter Two

1–4. The judgment of God upon Nineveh, and along with it the whole of Assyria, is already coming to fulfillment: by the command of Jehovah, the mighty enemy forces approach Nineveh to avenge the Assyrians for all the evil they have done to the people of God. 5–10. A picture of the actual destruction of Nineveh: siege, capture, and plundering of the city, the panic terror of its inhabitants – the flight of some and the captivity of others. 11–13. A sad picture of the complete desolation of Nineveh, lying in ruins, struck to the dust and destroyed by the power of Jehovah, God of vengeance, in contrast to its former greatness and might.

Nahum 2:1. A destroyer rises against you: guard the strongholds, watch the road, strengthen your loins, gather your strength. Nahum 2:2. For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob, as the splendor of Israel, because the ravagers have ravaged them and destroyed the branches of their vines. Nahum 2:3. The shields of his mighty men are red; the soldiers are clothed in crimson; the chariots flash with fire on the day of preparation for battle, and the forest of spears quivers. Nahum 2:4. The chariots race through the streets, they rumble in the squares; their appearance is like fire; they flash like lightning. (Heb. 2–5). Whereas in Nah 1:15 (Heb. 2:1) there was only talk of the messenger of Nineveh’s destruction and Judah’s salvation, now the prophet vividly contemplates and presents the actual fulfillment of God’s judgment upon Nineveh, describing future events as if they were taking place before his eyes. The united forces of enemies (Babylonians and Medes), marching against Nineveh, appear to the prophet as a destroyer or hammer (Heb. mephitz, mappets, cf. Jer 51:20. Prov 25:18), ready to strike Nineveh with a decisive, mortal blow (since in the Bible – Jer 51:20; Prov 25:18, and on Assyrian monuments the hammer figures among military weapons, the image of a hammer in relation to Nebuchadnezzar is understandable, Jer 51:20-23, as with later powerful and destructive conquerors like the Hun Attila). At the same time, the prophet with bitter irony advises Nineveh to hasten to take defensive measures: carefully guard her strongholds and fortifications, post sentries on elevated places (cf. Hab 2:1; Isa 21:6) to watch which way the enemy will come and from which side he will attack; moreover, in view of the extraordinary strength and courage of the enemies, Nineveh’s army must be entirely ready for the terrible war, gather all its strength and not lose presence of mind (such full combat readiness is expressed here by two related turns of speech: “to strengthen (or gird) the loins” (cf. Isa 5:27; Job 38:3; Job 40:2) and “to gather one’s strength”). But all these measures, in the prophet’s firm conviction, will be fruitless and in vain. The LXX, instead of mephitz in v. 1, probably read mephiakh (from puakh), and thus translated it as emphysion, Slavic “breathing (into your face)”, which Blessed Theodoret interprets as God’s giving new life to the Jews after the destruction of the Assyrians: “the author of this for you is God, who by his gesture, as by some breath, crushed them, and freed you from their dominion” (p. 11). But the reading of the Hebrew text, in which the address is to Nineveh rather than to Judea, is more natural and better fits the context of the discourse.

Nahum 2:2. For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob, as the splendor of Israel, because the ravagers have ravaged them and destroyed the branches of their vines. (Heb. 3). Now the chief cause of the fateful power of the enemies of Nineveh and the complete futility of her efforts at self-defense is indicated: her enemy will be Jehovah himself, who precisely through the destruction of Nineveh, which is hostile to the Kingdom of God, will restore that kingdom, and restore the outward beauty and inner sacred magnificence (Heb. gaon, Vulg. Superbiam) of Jacob-Israel, that is, of the chosen people of God in general; “it must be known,” notes Blessed Theodoret here (p. 12), “that to Jacob the name Jacob was given by his parents, and the name Israel by God, and the people descended from Jacob received both names. Therefore, says God: for the tribulations you suffered, O Jacob, from the Assyrians, I will punish them for the sake of the virtue of your forefather, by which I gave him also the designation of Israel.” Precisely through the destruction of Nineveh, the glory of the people of God, the magnificence of the Kingdom of God, must be restored, because Nineveh – in the persons of its kings – Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib and others – produced great ravagers of Israel – this true vineyard of God (Isa 5:1), planted by God’s hand, yet mercilessly destroyed by enemies (Ps 79:9-14). Now, at the moment of restoration of the splendor of Jacob and the glory of Israel, the time has come for vengeance upon their former enslavers – the Assyrians (cf. Isa 33:1).

Nahum 2:3. The shields of his mighty men are red; the soldiers are clothed in crimson; the chariots flash with fire on the day of preparation for battle, and the forest of spears quivers. Nahum 2:4. The chariots race through the streets, they rumble in the squares; their appearance is like fire; they flash like lightning. (Heb. 4–5). The prophet, as though already seeing the orderly, beautifully armed and ominously advancing ranks of Nineveh’s enemies, paints in fine poetic strokes the picture of the enemy army (Medes and Babylonians): the shields of the mighty men are red – Heb. meaddam – possibly made of red copper (J. Flav. Jew. Antiq. 13:12, 5; cf. 1 Sam 14:27) or dyed red – the color of blood; the garments of the heroes – crimson or purple, as was especially usual for warriors among the Chaldeans, Medes and Persians (the latter, according to Xenophon’s testimony, borrowed purple garments from the Medes; red was the favorite color of the Babylonians, cf. Ezek 23:14). Clad in red garments, brave soldiers “displayed daring in their eyes, and like torches and lightning struck fear” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 13), playing fearlessly, as it were, with fire (cf. LXX Slavic) and terrifying with dread chariots armed with serrated wheels (Heb. peladom) and other metal weapons; all seemed to burn with fire; – the soldiers, full of consciousness of their strength, raced into battle and impatiently shook a forest of spears. “In the words: the chariots flash with fire, through the flashing reins of the chariots, the speed of those preparing is indicated and there is portrayed, as it were, the brilliance of the equipment (episkeuēs) of those preparing for war” (Blessed Jerome, p. 278).

Nahum 2:4. The chariots race through the streets, they rumble in the squares; their appearance is like fire; they flash like lightning. (Heb. 5). Continuing to describe the enemy army, the prophet sees how already in the suburbs of Nineveh itself, through the outer streets leading to its fortified inner parts, numerous cavalry rush, and colliding with one another, produce an unimaginable roar; and in the speed of movement, the outward appearance reminds one of burning torches in the depths of night (cf. Judg 7:16) or even the flash of lightning. “So great is the number of those coming that the army is mixed on the way, and nothing can be distinguished. Also the very chariots, finding no passage, will, by their multitude, collide with one another in the squares. The appearance of the Babylonians is like lanterns, like flashing lightning, so that by their very appearance they will strike their opponents with fear before they strike them with the sword” (Blessed Jerome, p. 278–279). Such is the majestic image of refined, as lightning (Deut 32:41; cf. Zech 9:14), wrath of God! In v. 5–10 (Heb. 6–11) is described: 1) the capture of Nineveh (v. 5–7) and 2) its plundering (8–10).

Nahum 2:5. He summons his brave ones, but they stumble in their course; they hasten to the walls of the city, but the siege is already set. Nahum 2:6. The river gates open, and the palace falls. Nahum 2:7. It is decreed: she will be stripped and taken captive, and her maids will moan like doves, beating their breasts. (Heb. 6–8). At the very moment of impending fatal danger, the king of Assyria will remember his most glorious commanders (Heb. addirav), distinguished by wisdom and courage together, gather them all so that they, with the help of the best warriors, might repel the enemy ready to break into the center of the city from its walls. But all the heroes of Nineveh will prove insignificant: losing presence of mind, pushing each other and stumbling on the way, they will rush to the city walls besieged by the enemy, but it will already be too late: the terrible siege battering-rams (Heb. hasoheh, Vulg.: umbtaculum) with warriors hidden within them are already in full combat order ready to move on their wheels toward the walls of Nineveh. “Here is meant,” says Simashkevich (Archbishop Mitrofan, cited work, p. 196 note) “a certain kind of wooden machine known to the Assyrians and Babylonians, resembling a huge tower, mounted on 4 or 6 wheels, under which was a battering-ram (aries) or a machine for breaking walls (karim in Ezek 4:2 etc., krios 2 Macc 12:15)... Archers, stationed in the upper tier of the machine, with terrible speed, like hail, shoot arrows, both from the top of this tower and from its side openings; but they themselves and the ram are completely protected, which fully corresponds to the name of the machine ‘soheh’. Cf. P. Kleinert, p. 114.”

Nahum 2:6. The river gates open, and the palace falls. Verse 6 (Heb. 7), namely its first two words: “the gates of streams,” “river gates” (Heb. shaare-hanaharot) have always caused difficulty for interpreters, who offered several mutually contradictory interpretations of this verse. Given the evident difficulty, even the apparent impossibility of a literal understanding of the opening expression, many ancient and modern interpreters allowed a metaphorical interpretation: thus Blessed Jerome paraphrases the entire verse 6: “the gates of Nineveh are opened, which had a multitude of citizens like rivers, and her temple, that is, her kingdom, is destroyed, and the warrior is led into captivity, that is, all are led to Babylon” (p. 27:9; the words marked by us in italics in Blessed Jerome explain the biblical text expression “the gates of streams”). A similar transferred interpretation of the expression under consideration can be seen in the LXX, transmitting it by the words; pylai tōn poleōn, Slavic “gates of cities”. This understanding is also pursued in modern times (De Wette, Rosenmüller, Hitzig, Umbreit, etc.). However, here, as in the interpretation of any other biblical passage, one should adhere to the general hermeneutical principle – not to depart from the literal sense in the explanation of Sacred Scripture without extreme necessity; moreover, the second half of the verse (“the palace falls”) must undoubtedly be understood in a literal sense. Therefore, the literal interpretation should be recognized as predominant also for the first half of the verse. But here two main varieties are possible and exist. One of these interpretations has a more special character, the other a more general one. According to the first interpretation (Kleinert’s, Professor Golubev’s and others), the expression “gates of streams” means gates through which streams flow or which are blocked by channels, whose purpose was – to divert excess water from the city and prevent flooding; in such a sense the mentioned words interpret the flooding of Nineveh’s rivers Tigris and Khosar (Khosar), relying on the account of Ctesias-Diodorus (Diod. II, 25, 27, 28) that in the 3rd year of the siege of Nineveh by the Babylonians, the Tigris waters overflowing their banks destroyed a significant part of the city wall, which facilitated the taking of the city for the besiegers; additionally, they assume that the royal palace, of which destruction is spoken in the second half of the verse, lay near this wall destroyed by the flood. But, although the general thought of this interpretation is confirmed not only by the mentioned external historical evidence, but also by the general correspondence to the biblical worldview, which admits direct intervention of God in the life of the elements and their service to the punitive action of God’s judgment (cf. Judg 5:20-21), as well as individual touches of the picture outlined by the prophet himself (cf. Nah 1:8; Heb. 2:8,9), the assumptions allowed here are, of course, the weak side of this interpretation. Therefore, the more general interpretation of a likewise literal character deserves preference, according to which “the gates of streams” – are gates lying by streams or gates lying by streams, gates sufficiently strengthened not only by art, but also by nature. Not only the less fortified parts of the city, but even the most fortified gates – by the streams – and strongholds, such as the royal palace and temple (Heb. heykal has this dual meaning), built on artificial terraces (Philipson, Simashkevich, Martin, etc.) The LXX in verse 6 have an addition against the Hebrew χαι η αποστασις αποκαλυφθη, Slavic “and the dwelling was revealed”, which according to Blessed Theodoret, means: “what was previously kept in secrecy and was locked by many bolts, became open to all” (p. 13). In the accepted Greek text, these words are referred to the following 7th verse (in the Slavic text they are placed at the end of verse 6).

Nahum 2:7. It is decreed: she will be stripped and taken captive, and her maids will moan like doves, beating their breasts. The opening words of verse 7, and especially the first word: hu’zzav, are even more difficult for interpretation, since some modern biblical scholars (Ruben, Cheyne), ready to derive it from the Assyrian root eteIIu (fem. p. eteIIitu, great, exalted), are prepared to consider it untranslatable in its own right on Hebrew soil. All existing attempts at interpreting this word can be reduced to three following ones. According to one opinion (Keil’s, Lange-Kleinert’s, Strauss’ and others), adopted also in the Russian Synodal translation, this word can be rendered impersonally: “it is decreed,” “it is ordained,” “it is determined,” whereby the judgment of enemies over Nineveh is meant, which at the same time is also God’s determination concerning it (cf. Nah 1:14). But in favor of such an understanding, no testimony from any of the ancient translations can be cited; moreover, such an understanding narrows the content of the judgment over Nineveh, uttered by Jehovah (Nah 1:14). The ancient translations, on the other hand, more support the recognition of “hu’zzav” as a noun (LXX: hypostasis, Vulg; miles). Here there are two opinions. The Rabbis, Nicholas of Lyra, Luther, and in modern times Robinson, Ewald, Rückert, Zunz, Marti and others, considered this word the proper name of the Assyrian queen – according to conjecture, captured by the Babylonians at the taking of Nineveh. In this sense, the Targum of Jonathan renders the first half of verse 7:: “it regina currui insidens cum deportandis exit.” Other interpreters (Sheegg, Reinke, Philipson, Professor Golubev, Simashkevich, and others), finding no support in the text for this opinion, and finding no historical confirmation of it, see hu’zzav as a symbolic name for Nineveh (as Sesach for Babylon, Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41, or Ariel for Jerusalem, Isa 29:1-2), and this opinion is justified both by biblical analogies (just mentioned and others) and by the most probable and accepted derivation and meaning of the word hu’zzav – (Hophal from the verb natzav) “firmly, steadily established,” hence – considering herself beyond dangers. A name with such a meaning is quite fitting for Nineveh, a city of excessive self-confidence (Zeph 2:15). This city, proud of her strength, beauty and safety, will be disgraced by enemies, who will treat this queen of the country and all the East as a slave and harlot: they will strip her, rob her and lead her into captivity (cf. Nah 3:4-6). If, thus, the thought of Nineveh is inseparable in the prophet’s mind from the image of a captive queen, then this latter image is even more directly presupposed in the second half of verse 6: “and her maids will moan like doves, beating their breasts.” If under the image of an outraged queen is symbolically represented the capital of the state – Nineveh, then under the maids, sharing the grief of their mistress, moaning like doves and giving themselves only to secret sorrow from fear of the enemy, are meant not only the inhabitants, the population of Nineveh, but also the cities subject to it and the Assyrian kingdom: “the cities and villages subject to Nineveh will share her captivity with her, sighing in heart, and imitating the voice of doves” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 13). “Under the maids of Nineveh one must metaphorically understand the lesser cities, villages and hamlets. Or, perhaps, the captured women were threatened before the eyes of the conquerors, and such will be the terror that sorrow will not even be expressed in sobs and cries, but silently and to themselves they will moan and with a muffled whisper swallow tears like cooing doves” (Blessed Jerome, p. 279). A similar image is found in Isa 38:14; Isa 59:11; Ezek 8:16); beating in the breast cf. Luke 18:18; Luke 23:27.

Nahum 2:8. Nineveh has been like a reservoir full of water from ancient times, yet they are fleeing. “Stand, stand!” But none turn back. Nahum 2:9. Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasures, to all manner of precious articles. Nahum 2:10. She is stripped and emptied and devastated – the heart melts, the knees shake; there is anguish in all loins, and all faces grow pale. (Heb. 9–11). Now the prophet moves on to depicting the calamitous state into which Nineveh will fall once the besieging enemies break into it – a state sharply opposite to her former prosperity, power and greatness as the capital of Assyria. The prophet first expresses her former greatness and power by comparing her to a “reservoir full of water” (Heb. kirehhat-mayim), denoting Nineveh’s complete flourishing in all respects: the multitude of her inhabitants (peoples and tribes in the Bible are often compared to waters, for example, Rev 18:15), as well as the abundance of all earthly blessings, both material and spiritual (such is the meaning in the Bible of the expressions “living water,” “water of life,” Jer 2:13 ff. John 4:10-15; cf. also biblical symbolic depictions of earthly well-being and future blessedness, for example, Ps 1:3; Ps 13:13; Jer 47:1-13). Such Nineveh had been “from the time of her existence” (Heb. mimegi; Targum Jonathan meyomkeydem “from days of old”). The latter expression is otherwise read and transmitted in the LXX and Vulgate, which apparently read not mime, from days, but meymeyya, her waters (LXX: hydata autes, Vulg. aquae ejus, Slavic “her waters”). The general sense of the passage, however, is the same: Nineveh’s well-being was complete. But now it has come to an end: the city is being abandoned, its inhabitants foresee its destruction, and multitudes flee, and no encouraging cries of Nineveh’s defenders and leaders will have effect; panic terror has seized the inhabitants, not one of them only does not think of stopping and defending the city, but does not even dare simply to look back (cf. Jer 46:5). “With such a multitude of people inhabiting this city, who was like a basin full of water pouring out its excess, everyone had one purpose – to flee without even stopping to look back” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 13–14).

Nahum 2:9. Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasures, to all manner of precious articles. (Heb. 10). Left by inhabitants seized with panic terror, the city is delivered over to plundering by the enemies. Since they have fled, the Babylonians are told: “plunder the silver, and through sudden emptying plunder the riches accumulated over a long time” (Blessed Jerome, p. 81), the call to plunder the city coming, as it were, from Jehovah, that is, the entire fall of Nineveh is to take place not by chance, but by the decree of God’s judgment (cf. Jer 50:26-27; Ezek 7:19: Hab 2:5-13). “What was gathered wrongly,” remarks Blessed Theodoret on verse 9 (p. 14), “will be handed to others. For a multitude of enemies will fall upon their treasures. The prophet speaks of the future as of something accomplished, in that manner of expression which is especially characteristic of Scripture” (The LXX read and placed at the beginning of verse 9 not an imperative, but an aorist: diēphaston, Slavic: “they plundered”).

Nahum 2:10. She is stripped and emptied and devastated – the heart melts, the knees shake; there is anguish in all loins, and all faces grow pale. (Heb. 11). The terrible picture of Nineveh’s complete desolation the prophet depicts with extraordinary force of expressiveness – through the combination of three rhyming and synonymous words, yet containing progressive intensification both in thought and in sound form, Hebrew words: bukah, mebukah, mebukkah. But this is only one, external or objective side of Nineveh’s destruction. No less expressively does the prophet depict the internal, subjective side of the event – the panic terror of the inhabitants, in which, as it were, their very hearts melt, their knees weaken, and they are ready to fall, their anguish and trembling like the anguish of a woman in labor, their faces distorted with terror darkening like furnaces. Such pictures of desolation and terror can be found, for example, in the prophet Isaiah (Isa 24:1-3; Isa 13:7-8). “What usually happens in earthquakes, when the earth’s fabric trembles and shakes, that same, the prophet says, will be in the fall of the enemies, because when hearts are struck with fear and the joints of the knees grow weak, all will suffer, like a woman in labor, and faces from the thickening of blood will take on a leaden color and will resemble that side of the furnace which is always turned to the fire” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 14). “Devastated, destroyed and torn Nineveh is described under the image (sub metaphora) of a captive woman; her heart is broken, her knees are weakened, her loins are crushed, and the faces of all her inhabitants, worn down and disfigured by fear and great terror of the enemies, pale, seem like burned pots” (Blessed Jerome, p. 284).

Nahum 2:11. Where now is the lions’ den and the pasture for the young lions, where the lion and lioness walked and the lion’s cub, and none terrified them – Nahum 2:12. The lion, tearing apart to feed his cubs, and strangling for his lionesses, and filling his dens with prey and his lairs with kill? Nahum 2:13. Behold, I am against you! declares the Lord of hosts. And I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions, and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. (Heb. 12–14). From the terrible spectacle of the destruction and desolation of Nineveh, the prophet’s thought turns to the vanished greatness of ancient Nineveh, and with a sense of wonder and joy, he speaks of the coming disappearance of this center of all possible treasures, gained by violence and wrongs, this true lions’ den (v. 11–12; cf. Zeph 3:3). In the concluding verse (13, Heb. 14), the prophet makes known to the readers that what is being declared is still a prophecy, not an event, but an unalterable prophecy that will certainly come to pass: the historical role of Assyria, as a world power, by the irrevocable judgment of God, will unconditionally end; its complete destruction is inevitable. Thus, in this stanza, as then and in the following (III) chapter, not so much new touches of the factual side of the impending catastrophe for Nineveh are communicated, but rather an indication of the internal and external motives for this catastrophe.

Nahum 2:11. Where now is the lions’ den and the pasture for the young lions, where the lion and lioness walked and the lion’s cub, and none terrified them – Nahum 2:12. The lion, tearing apart to feed his cubs, and strangling for his lionesses, and filling his dens with prey and his lairs with kill? In the form of a rhetorical question, not requiring an answer but directly presupposing the complete absence of the object (cf. Isa 19:12; Isa 33:18, Isa 34:19; Isa 42:13; 1 Cor 1:20; Jer 13:20; Mal 1:6; Mal 2:17 and others), the prophet makes a majestic and deeply expressive comparison of cruel Nineveh and her inhabitants with a lions’ den, which among all peoples is considered, by its ferocity and superiority of strength, the king of all beasts (cf. Isa 15:9; Jer 4:7; Amos 3:8). “The lions’ den” the prophet calls Nineveh, lions – the kings, lion cubs – their sons, and pasture – the subject cities... It is the custom of these beasts to strangle the animals they catch and bring them as food to their young. And the Assyrians, crushing whole kingdoms of other peoples, gathered tributes from them” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 14, 15). The profound truth of the comparison of the Assyrians with lions and Nineveh with their lair is completely justified historically by the characteristic features of this people known from history and its relations to the contemporary world, appearing in such a light both in other sacred writers (Isa 5:29; Jer 50:17; Joel 1:1 and others) and on Assyria’s own ancient monuments: the Assyrians loved to adorn entrances and doors, walls, vessels, weapons with lion images, seeing in this, of course, the symbol of their strength and power, so that the figure of the lion became, as it were, the state and national Assyrian emblem; the Assyrians’ own accounts of their military exploits, read on obelisks and other cuneiform monuments, fully harmonize with biblical depictions of the ferocity and cruelty of the Assyrians as conquerors.

Nahum 2:13. Behold, I am against you! declares the Lord of hosts. And I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions, and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. (Heb. 14) The difficulty that inevitably arises in the reader when contemplating the contrast between Nineveh’s invincible power and cunning and her complete disappearance from the earth (v. 11–12), the prophet resolves by pointing to the judgment of the almighty God (cf. 3:5a). In this, “since the prophet above in a transferred sense mentioned lions and lion cubs, about hunting and pasture; accordingly, he also announces the destruction of the Assyrians allegorically. And since hunters, when beasts take shelter in some caves and do not wish to come out, bringing smoke to the cave entrances, compel them to come out, and the coming-out beast they receive on spears; the God correspondingly said that he will give all the multitude to smoke, and the lions to the sword: this signifies the burning of the city and the killing of kings, after which the hunt is ended” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 15). The imaginal speech of the prophet in the closing phrase of the verse transitions to a direct proclamation of the irrevocable destruction of Assyrian dominion: “and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard,” which Blessed Jerome paraphrases thus: You will no longer lay waste the lands and demand tribute, and the ambassadors will not be heard in the countries” (p. 289), that is, the messengers of the Assyrian king, who spread his commands to the subject peoples and demanded their unconditional submission to the will and orders of their master; such was the famous Rabshakeh (2 Sam 18:17-37; Isa 36:13-20). Such is the judgment upon Nineveh by the almighty God – the Lord of hosts, Heb. Jehovah-Tsebaoth. The threefold meaning of this divine name is well known: in relation to the hosts of Israel (Exod 6:26; Exod 7:4), in application to the heavenly luminaries (Isa 40:26; Zeph 1:5 and others) and especially – to the army of Angels (1 Sam 22:19; Isa 24:21, cf. in the work of Prof. Sacred A. A. Glagolev, The Old Testament Biblical Teaching on Angels. Kyiv, 1900, p. 238–256). In view of the cult of the heavenly bodies that existed among the Assyrians, the designation of the God of Israel as Jehovah Tsebaoth must of itself have indicated to the Assyrians that nothing could save them from the hand of this God, Who is the sole Master of their own gods (see Deut 10:17).