Nahum 3:2-12

2 The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot![a]
3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end- they stumble over their dead.
4 Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft,[b]
5 I am against you[c]- the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms.[d]
6 I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
7 Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying: Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her? Where can I find anyone to comfort you?
8 Are you better than Thebes[e][f] that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river[g][h] her wall?
9 Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her[i] allies.
10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces[j] at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries,[k] and all her nobles were bound in chains.
11 You[l] also will become drunk; you will hide yourself.[m] You also will seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall- right into the mouth of the eater!

Nahum 3:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM 3

In this chapter is contained the prophecy of the destruction of Nineveh, and with it the whole Assyrian empire; the causes of which, besides those before mentioned, were the murders, lies, and robberies it was full of, Na 3:1 for which it should be swiftly and cruelly destroyed, Na 3:2,3 as also its whoredoms and witchcrafts, or idolatry, by which nations and families were seduced, Na 3:4 and hence she should be treated as a harlot, her nakedness exposed, and she cast out with contempt, and mocked at by all, Na 3:5-7 and all those things she placed her confidence in are shown to be of no avail; as her situation and fortresses, as she might learn from the case of No Amon, Na 3:8-12 nor the number of her inhabitants, which were weak as women; nor even her merchants, captains, nobles, and king himself, Na 3:13-18 nor the people she was in alliance with, who would now mock at her, her case being irrecoverable and incurable, Na 3:19.

Footnotes 13

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