Nahum 3

The LORD Will Judge Nineveh

1 How terrible it will be for Nineveh! It is a city of murderers! It is full of liars! It's filled with stolen goods! The killing never stops!

2 Whips crack! Wheels clack! Horses charge! Chariots rumble!

3 Horsemen attack! Swords flash! Spears gleam! Many people die. Dead bodies pile up. They can't even be counted. People trip over them.

4 All of that was caused by the evil longings of the prostitute Nineveh. That woman who practiced evil magic was very beautiful. She used her sinful charms to make slaves out of the nations. She worshiped evil powers in order to trap others.

5 "Nineveh, I am against you," announces the LORD who rules over all. "I will pull your skirts up over your face. I will show the nations your naked body. Kingdoms will make fun of your shame.

6 I will throw garbage at you. I will look down on you. I will make an example out of you.

7 All those who see you will run away from you. They will say, 'Nineveh is destroyed. Who will sob over it?' Where can I find someone to comfort your people?"

8 Nineveh, are you better than Thebes on the Nile River? There was water all around that city. The river helped to keep it safe. The waters were like a wall around it.

9 Cush and Egypt gave it all of the strength it needed. Put and Libya also helped it.

10 But Thebes was captured anyway. Its people were taken away as prisoners. Its babies were smashed to pieces at every street corner. The Assyrian soldiers cast lots for all of its great leaders. They put them in chains and made slaves out of them.

11 People of Nineveh, you too will get drunk. You will try to hide from your enemies. You will look for a place of safety.

12 All of your forts are like fig trees that have their first ripe fruit on them. When the trees are shaken, the figs fall into the mouths of those who eat them.

13 Look at your troops. All of them are weak. The gates of your forts are wide open to your enemies. Fire has destroyed their heavy metal bars.

14 Prepare for the attack by storing up water! Make your walls as strong as you can! Make some bricks out of clay! Mix the mud to hold them together! Use them to repair the walls!

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!

16 You have more traders than the number of stars in the sky. But like locusts they strip the land. Then they fly away.

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.

Nahum 3 Commentary

Chapter 3

The sins and judgments of Nineveh. (1-7) Its utter destruction. (8-19)

Verses 1-7 When proud sinners are brought down, others should learn not to lift themselves up. The fall of this great city should be a lesson to private persons, who increase wealth by fraud and oppression. They are preparing enemies for themselves; and if the Lord sees good to punish them in this world, they will have none to pity them. Every man who seeks his own prosperity, safety, and peace, should not only act in an upright, honourable manner, but with kindness to all.

Verses 8-19 Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered "merchants." Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and many other cities, states, and empires, have been ruined, and should be a warning to us. Are we better, except as there are some true Christians amongst us, who are a greater security, and a stronger defence, than all the advantages of situation or strength? When the Lord shows himself against a people, every thing they trust in must fail, or prove a disadvantage; but he continues good to Israel. He is a strong-hold for every believer in time of trouble, that cannot be stormed or taken; and he knoweth those that trust in Him.

Chapter Summary

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.