Nahum 3:6

6 I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are.

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 this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere.
5 “I am your enemy!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame.
6 I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are.
7 All who see you will shrink back and say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins. Where are the mourners?’ Does anyone regret your destruction?”
8 Are you any better than the city of Thebes, situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water? She was protected by the river on all sides, walled in by water.
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