Nachum 3:6

6 And I (Hashem) will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee contemptibly vile, and will make thee a spectacle.

Nachum 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.

Nachum 3:6 In-Context

4 Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the alluring zonah, the ba’alat keshafim (the mistress of sorceries), that enslaveth Goyim through her prostitutions, and mishpochot through her keshafim;
5 Hineni, I am against thee, saith Hashem Tzva’os; and I will lift thy skirts over thy faces, and I will show the Goyim thy nakedness, and the mamlachot thy shame.
6 And I (Hashem) will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee contemptibly vile, and will make thee a spectacle.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is in ruins; who will bemoan her? From where shall I seek menachamim (comforters) for thee?
8 Art thou better than No Amon (Thebes), that was situated on the Nile, that had the mayim round about it, whose rampart was the yam, and her waters were her chomah?
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