Nahum 3:1-6

1 How terrible it will be for the city that has killed so many. It is full of lies and goods stolen from other countries. It is always killing somebody.

2 Hear the sound of whips and the noise of the wheels. Hear horses galloping and chariots bouncing along!

3 Horses are charging, swords are shining, spears are gleaming! Many are dead; their bodies are piled up -- too many to count. People stumble over the dead bodies.

4 The city was like a prostitute; she was charming and a lover of magic. She made nations slaves with her prostitution and her witchcraft.

5 "I am against you, Nineveh," says the Lord All-Powerful. "I will pull your dress up over your face and show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will throw filthy garbage on you and make a fool of you. I will make people stare at you.

Nahum 3:1-6 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.