Nahum 3:11

11 You also will be drunken, you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.

Nahum 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:11

Thou also shalt be drunken
This is said to Nineveh, whose turn would be next to drink of the cup of the wrath of God, and be inebriated with it, so that they should not know where they were, or what they did; and be as unable to guide and help themselves as a drunken man. So the Targum,

``thou also shalt be like to a drunken man;''

this was literally true of Nineveh when taken; see ( Nahum 1:10 ) : thou shalt be hid;
or, "thou shall be", as if thou wast not; as Nineveh is at this day, "hid" from the sight of men, not to be seen any more. So the Targum,

``thou shall be swallowed up or destroyed.''

The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it "despised"; or the meaning is, she should "hide herself" ^F23; or be lurking about through shame, as drunken, or through fear of her enemies: thou also shall seek strength because of the enemy;
seek to others to help them against the enemy, not being able with their own strength to face them: or, seek strength "of the enemy" ^F24; beg their lives of him, and their bread; pray for quarter, and desire to be taken under his protection; to so low and mean a state and condition should Nineveh and its inhabitants be reduced, who had given laws to all about them, and had been a terror to them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (hmlen) "latitans", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "abscondes te", Vatablus; "eris abscondita", Burkius.
F24 (bywam) (ex ecyrwn) , Sept.; "ab hoste", Montanus, Calvin, Drusius, Grotius, Cocceius.

Nahum 3:11 In-Context

9 Ethiopia was her strength, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

10 Yet she became an exile, she went into captivity; even her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; lots were cast for her nobles, all her dignitaries were bound in fetters.

11 You also will be drunken, you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look at your troops: they are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your foes; fire has devoured the bars of your gates.

Footnotes

• [a]. Meaning of Heb uncertain