For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob - i:e., the time for Nineveh's overthrow is ripe, because Jacob (Judah) and Israel (the ten tribes) have been sufficiently chastised. "Jacob" means here Judah. The Assyrian rod of chastisement, having done its work, is to be thrown into the fire. If God chastised Jacob and Israel with all their "excellency" (Jerusalem and the temple, which was their pre-eminent excellency above all nations in God's eyes, Psalms 47:4; Psalms 87:2; Ezekiel 24:21; note, Amos 6:8), how much more will He punish fatally Nineveh, an alien to Him, and idolatrous! Nahum speaks of the overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple, though then still future, in the prophetic past: so certain are the words of God that they are regarded as though they were already accomplished: "The Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob." Drusius and Tarnovius translate [shab being thus taken for the Hiphil, as in Deuteronomy 30:3, wªshab, "The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity], 'restores,' or 'will restore the excellency of Jacob,' etc. Munster, Piscator, and the Septuagint support the English version, which gives good sense, explained as above.
For the emptiers - the Assyrian spoilers.
Have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches - have spoiled the Israelites and Jews (Hosea 10:1, "Israel is an empty vine: he bringeth forth fruit unto himself"). Compare Psalms 80:8; Psalms 80:16 on "vine branches," as applied to Israel, "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the pagan, and planted it ... the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river ... Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts (answering to Drusius' translation here, The Lord will restore, or make to return, the excellency of Jacob); look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine."