Naum 3:1

1 O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.

Naum 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:1

Woe to the bloody city
Nineveh, in which many murders were daily committed; innocent blood shed; the lives of men taken away, under the colour of justice, by false witnesses, and other unlawful methods; and which was continually making war with neighbouring nations, and shedding their blood, which it stuck not at, to enlarge its wealth and dominions; and therefore "woe" is denounced against it; and it is threatened with the righteous judgments of God, with all sorts of calamity and distress: or, "O bloody city", as the Septuagint; for the word used is vocative, and expressive of calling, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe: it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery;
the palace and court; the houses of noblemen and common persons were full of flattery and deceit; men of high degree were a lie, and men of low degree vanity; no man could trust another, or believe what he said; there were no truth, honesty, and faithfulness, in conversation or commerce; their warehouses were full of goods, got by rapine and violence; and their streets full of robbers and robberies: the prey departeth not;
they go on in making a prey of their neighbours, in pillaging and plundering their substance; they repent not of such evil practices, nor desist from them; or because of the above sins they shall fall a prey to the enemy, who will not cease plundering them till he has utterly stripped them of all they have; and who is represented in the next verse ( Nahum 3:2 ) as just at hand.

Naum 3:1 In-Context

1 O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.

2 The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot,

3 and of the mounting rider, and of the glittering sword, and of the gleaming arms, and of a multitude of slain, and of heavy falling: and there was no end to her nations, but they shall be weak in their bodies

4 because of the abundance of fornication: a fair harlot, and well-favoured, skilled in sorcery, that sells the nations by her fornication, and peoples by her sorceries.

5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord God Almighty, and I will uncover thy skirts in thy presence, and I will shew the nations thy shame, and the kingdoms thy disgrace.