Nahum 3:6

6 "I will 1throw filth on you And 2make you vile, And set you up as a 3spectacle.

Nahum 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:6

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee
As dirt and dung, or any or everything that is abominable and filthy; and which is thrown at harlots publicly disgraced, and as used to be at persons when carted. The meaning is, that this city and its inhabitants should be stripped of everything that was great and glorious in them, and should be reduced to the utmost shame and ignominy: and make thee vile:
mean, abject, contemptible, the offscouring of all things; rejected and disesteemed of all; had in no manner of repute or account, but in the utmost abhorrence: and I will set thee as a gazingstock;
to be looked and laughed at: or, "for an example" F5; to others, that they may shun the evils and abominations Nineveh had been guilty of, or expect the same disgrace and punishment. Kimchi interprets it "as dung" F6; to be no more reckoned of than that, or to be made a dunghill of; and so many others interpret it; or, "for a looking glass" F7; that others may look into, and take warning, and avoid the sins that have brought on such calamities.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (yawrk) (eiv paradeigma) , Sept.; "in exemplum", Drusius, Tarnovius; "sicut spectacalum", Burkius.
F6 "Tanquam stercus", Munster, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin, Cocceius.
F7 "Ut speculum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Quistorpius.

Nahum 3:6 In-Context

4 All because of the many harlotries of the harlot, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her harlotries And families by her sorceries.
5 "Behold, I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts; "And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show to the nations your nakedness And to the kingdoms your disgrace.
6 "I will throw filth on you And make you vile, And set you up as a spectacle.
7 "And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, 'Nineveh is devastated! Who will grieve for her?' Where will I seek comforters for you?"
8 Are you better than No-amon , Which was situated by the waters of the Nile, With water surrounding her, Whose rampart was the sea, Whose wall consisted of the sea?

Cross References 3

  • 1. Job 9:31
  • 2. Job 30:8; Malachi 2:9
  • 3. Isaiah 14:16; Jeremiah 51:37

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit "detestable things"
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