Nahum 3:8-10

8 ¹Are you better than ²Thebes^[a] that sat ³by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall?

9 ⁴Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; ⁵Put and the ⁶Libyans were her^[b] helpers.

10 ⁷Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; ⁸her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men ⁹lots were cast, ¹⁰and all her great men 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.

Cross References

• 1. 3:8 [Amos 6:2]
• 2. 3:8 Jer. 46:25
• 3. 3:8 [Ezek. 29:3]
• 4. 3:9 See Dan. 11:43
• 5. 3:9 Gen. 10:6
• 6. 3:9 See 2 Chr. 12:3
• 7. 3:10 Isa. 20:4
• 8. 3:10 Isa. 13:16
• 9. 3:10 Joel 3:3; Obad. 11
• 10. 3:10 [Ps. 149:8]

Footnotes

• [a] 3:8 Hebrew 'No-amon'
• [b] 3:9 Hebrew 'your'