Nahum 1:3

3 The Lord is patient, and great in strength, and he cleansing shall not make (the wicked) innocent. The Lord cometh in tempest, and the ways of him be in whirlwind, and clouds be the dust of his feet; (The Lord is patient, and great in strength, and in cleansing, he shall not make the wicked innocent, or let them go unpunished. The Lord cometh in the tempest, and his ways be in the whirlwind, and the clouds be the dust of his feet;)

Nahum 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 1:3

The Lord [is] slow to anger
He is not in haste to execute it; he takes time for it, and gives men space for repentance. Nineveh had had a proof of this when it repented at the preaching of Jonah, upon which the Lord deferred the execution of his wrath; but lest they should presume upon this, and conclude the Lord would always bear with them, though they had returned to their former impieties; they are let to know, that this his forbearance was not owing to want of power or will in him to punish: since he is great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked];
he is able to execute the wrath he threatens, and will by no means clear the guilty, or let them go free and unpunished; though he moves slowly, as he may seem in the execution of his judgments, yet they shall surely be brought on his enemies, and be fully accomplished: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
[are] the dust of his feet;
he spoke to Job out of the whirlwind; he descended on Mount Sinai in a storm and tempest; and the clouds are his chariots; in which he rides swiftly; and which, for their appearance and number, are like the dust raised by a multitude of horsemen riding full speed, The wrath of God may be compared to a whirlwind, and a storm, which is sometimes hastily and suddenly executed upon men: respect seems to be had to the armies of the Medes and Chaldeans against the Assyrians; who, as the Babylonians against the Jews, came up as clouds, and their chariots as the whirlwind, ( Jeremiah 4:13 ) ; and the figures beautifully describe the numbers of them, the force with which they came; and in an elegant manner represent the vast quantity of dust raised by an army in full march; at the head of which was the Lord himself, ordering, directing, and succeeding, before whom none can stand.

Nahum 1:3 In-Context

1 The burden of Nineveh; the book of (the) vision of Nahum (the) Elkoshite.

2 The Lord is a punisher, and the Lord is venging; the Lord is venging, and having strong vengeance; the Lord is venging against his adversaries, and he is wrathing to his enemies (and he is raging at his enemies).

3 The Lord is patient, and great in strength, and he cleansing shall not make (the wicked) innocent. The Lord cometh in tempest, and the ways of him be in whirlwind, and clouds be the dust of his feet; (The Lord is patient, and great in strength, and in cleansing, he shall not make the wicked innocent, or let them go unpunished. The Lord cometh in the tempest, and his ways be in the whirlwind, and the clouds be the dust of his feet;)

4 he blameth the sea, and drieth it, and bringeth all floods into desert (he rebuketh the sea, and it drieth up, and maketh all the rivers into deserts, or into dry riverbeds). Bashan is made sick, and (also) Carmel, and the flower(s) of Lebanon languished.

5 Mountains be moved together of him, and little hills be desolate. And [the] earth trembled together from the face of him, and the roundness of earth, and all dwelling therein. (The mountains be altogether moved, or shaken, before him, and the little hills be made desolate. And the earth altogether trembled, or shook, before his face, yea, the whole earth, and all those who live upon it.)