Nahum 3:8-10

8 Are you better than Thebes^[a][b] that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river^[c][d] her wall?

9 Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her^[e] allies.

10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces^[f] at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries,^[g] and all her nobles were bound in chains.

Nahum 3:8-10 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit No-amon
• [b] Jr 46:25; Ezk 30:14-16
• [c] LXX, Syr, Vg read water
• [d] Lit sea from sea
• [e] Lit your; Thebes
• [f] 2 Kg 8:12; Isa 13:16; Hs 10:14
• [g] Ob 11