Nahum 3:5-19

5 "Look! I am against you!" {declares}Yahweh. "I will strip up your skirts over your face; I will let nations look [at] your nakedness and your shame.

6 "I will throw filth upon you, I will treat you with contempt, I will make you a spectacle.

7 "And it will be that everyone who sees you will flee from you, And {they} will say, 'Nineveh is destroyed!' Who will mourn for her? From whence shall I seek comforters for you?"

Nineveh Will Suffer the Same Fate She Inflicted on Thebes

8 Are you better than Thebes? She who sits at the Nile, surrounded by her waters, her rampart [was the] sea and water [was] her wall.

9 Cush [was] her strength, Egypt without end; Put and Libya were among {your allies}.

10 Yet she went into captivity as an exile; her children were dashed to pieces at the head of [the] streets; they cast lots for all of her nobles; all of her dignitaries were bound with chains.

11 You also will behave like a drunkard; You also will hide yourself; You also will seek refuge from [the] enemy.

Nineveh’s Defenses Will Fail

12 All of your fortifications [are like] fig trees with [ripe] firstfruits-- if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look! Your troops [are like] women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars [of your gates].

14 Draw water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go to the mud [pit]! Trample the clay! Grasp the brick mold!

15 There fire will consume you; the sword will cut you off. It will consume you like the locust.

Nineveh’s Defenders Will Flee

16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven; [like] the locust they will shed [their skin] and fly away.

17 Your officials [are] like locusts; your commanders [are] like a swarm of locusts. They encamp on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they fly away-- no one knows where they have gone.

Nineveh Will Come to an End

18 Your shepherds are sleeping, [O] king of Assyria! Your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains; no one can gather them.

19 There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap [their] hands [for joy] concerning you, {For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty}?

Nahum 3:5-19 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] Literally "a declaration of"
• [b] Hebrew "he"
• [c] Hebrew "No-Amon"
• [d] Literally "your helpers"
• [e] Literally "For over whom has your endless cruelty not passed?"