Zephaniah 2:13
And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.
The verse foretells that God would stretch out His hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and make Nineveh a desolation, dry like a wilderness. The threatened judgment upon Nineveh was stayed for a time by Josiah's reforms, yet its destruction remained certain. The prophecy may look to the devastation wrought by the Scythians and beyond it to an unavoidable judgment. Nineveh's sudden ruin fulfilled the prediction, and the overthrow buried and thereby preserved Sennacherib's stone records beneath the destruction.
The site of Nineveh was then lost for centuries until it was excavated, bringing to light its history and its rulers' contacts with God's chosen people. Its lasting condition as an empty, ruined place proves the prophecy was fulfilled and shows that prophecy reveals God's foreknowledge.