Nahum 3:15

15 There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down— they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts!

Nahum 3:15 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
English Standard Version (ESV)
15 There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
New Living Translation (NLT)
15 But the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down. The enemy will consume you like locusts, devouring everything they see. There will be no escape, even if you multiply like swarming locusts.
The Message Bible (MSG)
15 Sorry. Too late. Enemy fire will burn you up. Swords will cut you to pieces. You'll be chewed up as if by locusts. Yes, as if by locusts - a fitting fate, for you yourselves are a locust plague.
American Standard Version (ASV)
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
15 Fire will consume you there. A sword will cut you down. It will consume you like locusts. Multiply like locusts! Multiply like hungry locusts!
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
15 The fire will devour you there; the sword will cut you down. It will devour you like the young locust. Multiply yourselves like the young locust, multiply like the swarming locust!
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
15 In spite of all of your hard work, fire will burn you up inside your city. Your enemies will cut you down with their swords. They will destroy you just as grasshoppers eat up crops. Multiply like grasshoppers! Increase your numbers like locusts!

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.
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 Look at your troops— they are all weaklings. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has consumed the bars of your gates.
14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your defenses! Work the clay, tread the mortar, repair the brickwork!
15 There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down— they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts!
16 You have increased the number of your merchants till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts, your officials like swarms of locusts that settle in the walls on a cold day— but when the sun appears they fly away, and no one knows where.

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Isaiah 27:1
  • 2. S 2 Samuel 2:26
  • 3. S Jeremiah 51:14; S Joel 1:4
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