Nahum 3:18-19

18 Your shepherds are 1sleeping, O 2king of Assyria; Your 3nobles are lying down. Your people are 4scattered on the mountains And there is no one to regather them.
19 There is 5no relief for your breakdown, Your 6wound is incurable. All who hear about you Will 7clap their hands over you, For on whom has not your evil passed continually?

Nahum 3:18-19 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.

Cross References 7

  • 1. Psalms 76:5, 6; Isaiah 56:10; Jeremiah 51:57
  • 2. Jeremiah 50:18
  • 3. Nahum 2:5
  • 4. 1 Kings 22:17; Isaiah 13:14
  • 5. Jeremiah 46:11; Micah 1:9
  • 6. Jeremiah 30:12
  • 7. Job 27:23; Lamentations 2:15

Footnotes 1

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.