Nahum 1:3

3 Yahweh is slow to anger but great [in] power; he will certainly not allow [the guilty] to go unpunished. {He marches}^[a] in storm wind and in gale; storm clouds [are the] dust of his feet.

Nahum 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 1:3

The Lord [is] slow to anger
He is not in haste to execute it; he takes time for it, and gives men space for repentance. Nineveh had had a proof of this when it repented at the preaching of Jonah, upon which the Lord deferred the execution of his wrath; but lest they should presume upon this, and conclude the Lord would always bear with them, though they had returned to their former impieties; they are let to know, that this his forbearance was not owing to want of power or will in him to punish: since he is great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked];
he is able to execute the wrath he threatens, and will by no means clear the guilty, or let them go free and unpunished; though he moves slowly, as he may seem in the execution of his judgments, yet they shall surely be brought on his enemies, and be fully accomplished: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
[are] the dust of his feet;
he spoke to Job out of the whirlwind; he descended on Mount Sinai in a storm and tempest; and the clouds are his chariots; in which he rides swiftly; and which, for their appearance and number, are like the dust raised by a multitude of horsemen riding full speed, The wrath of God may be compared to a whirlwind, and a storm, which is sometimes hastily and suddenly executed upon men: respect seems to be had to the armies of the Medes and Chaldeans against the Assyrians; who, as the Babylonians against the Jews, came up as clouds, and their chariots as the whirlwind, ( Jeremiah 4:13 ) ; and the figures beautifully describe the numbers of them, the force with which they came; and in an elegant manner represent the vast quantity of dust raised by an army in full march; at the head of which was the Lord himself, ordering, directing, and succeeding, before whom none can stand.

Nahum 1:3 In-Context

1 The oracle concerning Nineveh-- the scroll of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenging; Yahweh is avenging and {full of wrath}. Yahweh takes vengeance against his enemies; he rages against his adversaries.

3 Yahweh is slow to anger but great [in] power; he will certainly not allow [the guilty] to go unpunished. {He marches} in storm wind and in gale; storm clouds [are the] dust of his feet.

4 He rebukes the sea and he dries up the rivers; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither; the blossom of Lebanon languishes.

5 Mountains quake before him; the hills shake apart. The earth heaves before him-- the world and all her inhabitants.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "His path"