Nahum 3:5

5 ¹Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and ²will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at ³your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.

Nahum 3:5 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:5

Behold, I [am] against thee, saith the Lord of hosts
Because her doings were against him; (See Gill on Nahum 2:13): and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face;
turn up the skirts of her garments over her head, and thereby discover what should be concealed, than which nothing is more disagreeable and abominable to modest persons; it is here threatened she should be used in character as a harlot, or as women oftentimes are by rude soldiers, when a city is taken by them: and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy
shame;
all her charms shall be taken away, and she become odious as a harlot to her former lovers; all her impostures, arts, and tricks, and shameful actions, will be discovered; and her aims and views at universal monarchy will be seen and her weakness to effect it made to appear; and, upon the whole, will become the object of the scorn and derision of kingdoms and nations.

Nahum 3:5 In-Context

3 Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over the bodies!

4 And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.

5 Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.

6 I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.

7 And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her? ” Where shall I seek comforters for you?

Cross References

• 1. 3:5 [See ch. 2:13 above]
• 2. 3:5 Jer. 13:22, 26; [Isa. 3:17; 47:3]
• 3. 3:5 Hab. 2:16