Nahum 3:1-4

The Doom of the Wicked City is Certain

1 Woe to the city [that has shed] {much blood}! {She is a deceiver}, She is filled [with] plunder, {She has hoarded her spoils of war}.

2 The crack of the whip! The rumbling of the [chariot] wheel! The galloping of the horse! The racing of the chariot!

3 Chariots charge! Swords flash! Spears glitter! {Many corpses are piled high}! There is no end to the slain! They stumble over their dead!

Harlot Nineveh Will Get What She Deserves

4 "Because of the many idolatries of [the] prostitute, the beautiful charm [of] a mistress of witchcraft, she who enslaves nations by her harlotries, and peoples by her sorceries,

Nahum 3:1-4 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 "bloods"
• [b] Literally "All of her [is] deception"
• [c] Literally "Prey does not depart"
• [d] Literally "Many dead, piles of corpses"