Nahum 3:15

15 Quivi ti consumerà il fuoco, la spada ti distruggerà; il fuoco ti consumerà, a guisa di bruchi; adunati pure in gran numero, a guisa di bruchi; adunati pure in gran numero, a guisa di locuste.

Nahum 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:15

There shall the fire devour thee
In the strong holds, made ever so firm and secure; either the fire of divine wrath; or the fire of the enemy they should put into them; or the enemy himself, as Kimchi; and so the Targum,

``thither shall come upon thee people who are as strong as fire:''

the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up as the cankerworm:
that is, the sword of the Medes and Chaldeans shall utterly destroy thee, as the cankerworm is destroyed by rain or fire; or rather, as that creature destroys all herbs, plants, and trees it falls upon, and makes clear riddance of them, so should it be with Nineveh: make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself many as the
locust;
which go in swarms, innumerable, and make the air "heavy" in which they fly, and the earth on which they fall, as the word ^F25 signifies. The locust has one of its names, "arbah", in Hebrew, from the large numbers of them; so a multitude of men, and large armies, are often signified in Scripture to be like grasshoppers or locusts, for their numbers; see ( Judges 6:5 ) ( 7:12 ) ( Jeremiah 46:23 ) . So Sithalces king of Thrace is represented ^F26 as swearing, while he was sacrificing, that he would assist the Athenians, having an army that would come like locusts, that is, in such numbers; for so the Greek scholiast on the place says the word used signifies a sort of locusts: the sense is, gather together as many soldiers, and as large an army, as can be obtained to meet the enemy, or cause him to break up the siege: and so we find ^F1 the king of Assyria did; for, perceiving his kingdom in great danger, he sent into all his provinces to raise soldiers, and prepare everything for the siege; but all to no purpose, which is here ironically suggested. The word in the Misnic language, as Kimchi observes, has the signification of sweeping; and some render it, "sweep as the locust" ^F2; which sweeps away and consumes the fruits of the earth; so sweep with the besom of destruction, as Jarchi, either their enemies, sarcastically spoken, or be thou swept by them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (dbkth) "aggravate", Montanus; "onerate", Tigurine version; "gravem effice te", Burkius.
F26 Aristophan. in Acharnens. Act. 1. Scen. 1.
F1 Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. p. 113.
F2 So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 39. 1.

Nahum 3:15 In-Context

13 Ecco, il tuo popolo sarà come tante donne, dentro di te; le porte del tuo paese saranno tutte aperte a’ tuoi nemici; il fuoco consumerà le tue sbarre.

14 Attigniti pur dell’acqua per l’assedio, fortifica le tue fortezze, entra nella malta, e intridi l’argilla; rifa’ la fornace da mattoni.

15 Quivi ti consumerà il fuoco, la spada ti distruggerà; il fuoco ti consumerà, a guisa di bruchi; adunati pure in gran numero, a guisa di bruchi; adunati pure in gran numero, a guisa di locuste.

16 Tu hai moltiplicati i tuoi mercatanti sopra il numero delle stelle del cielo; il bruco è scorso, e poi se ne è volato via.

17 I tuoi coronati son come locuste, e i tuoi capitani son come le maggiori locuste, che si accampano nelle chiusure, in tempo di freddo; e quando il sole è levato, si dileguano, e non si riconosce più il loro luogo, dove erano.