Nahum 3:19

19 Nothing can heal your wounds. You will die of them. All those who hear the news about you clap their hands because you have fallen from power. All of them suffered because you never showed them any pity.

Nahum 3:19 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:19

[There is] no healing of thy bruise
Made by the fatal blow given to the empire by the taking of Nineveh; the ruin of it was irreparable and irrecoverable; the city of Nineveh was no more, and the Assyrian empire sunk, and never rose again: or, "there is no contraction of thy bruise" ^F18; as when a wound is healed, or near it, the skin round about is wrinkled and contracted. The Targum is,

``there is none that grieves at thy breach;''

so the Syriac version; so far from it, that they rejoiced at it, as in a following clause: thy wound is grievous;
to be borne; the pain of it intolerable; an old obstinate one, inveterate and incurable: or, is "weak", or "sickly" {s}; which had brought a sickness and weakness on the state, out of which it would never be recovered: all that hear the bruit of thee;
the fame, the report of the destruction of Nineveh, and of the ruin of the Assyrian empire, and the king of it: shall clap the hands over thee;
for joy; so far were they from lending a helping hand in the time of distress, that they clapped both hands together, to express the gladness of their hearts at hearing such news: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
to which of thy neighbours hast thou not been troublesome and injurious? which of them hast thou not oppressed, and used with violence and cruelty? what province or city but have felt the weight of thine hand, have been harassed with wars, and distressed with tributes and exactions? and therefore it is no wonder they rejoice at thy fall. The destruction of this city, and so of the whole empire, is placed by Dr. Prideaux in the twenty ninth year of Josiah's reign, and in the year 612 B.C.; and by what Josephus says ^F20 it appears to have been but a little while before Josiah was slain by Pharaohnecho, who came out with an army to Euphrates, to make war upon the Medes and Babylonians; who, he says, had overturned the Assyrian empire; being jealous, as it seems, of their growing power. Learned men justly regret the loss of the Assyriaca of Abydenus, and of the history of the Assyrians by Herodotus, who promised

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 it; but whether he finished it or no is not certain; however, it is not extant; and in one place, speaking of the Medes attacking Nineveh, and taking it, he says ^F23, but how they took it I shall show in another history; all which, had they come to light, and been continued, might have been of singular use in explaining this prophecy.
F18 (hhk Nya) "nulla est contractio", Junius & Tremellius, Burkius.
F19 (hlxn) "infirmata", Pagninus, Montanus; "aegritudine plena", Vatablus; "aegra", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Burkius.
F20 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 5. sect. 1.
F21 L. 1. sive Clio, c. 184.
F23 Ibid. c. 106.

Nahum 3:19 In-Context

17 Your guards are like grasshoppers. Your officials are like large numbers of locusts. They settle in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun appears, they fly away. And no one knows where they go.

18 King of Assyria, your leaders are asleep. Your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains. No one is left to gather them together.

19 Nothing can heal your wounds. You will die of them. All those who hear the news about you clap their hands because you have fallen from power. All of them suffered because you never showed them any pity.